1.
The
International Army Games 2018 are being held at 24 training grounds in seven
countries namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, China and
Russia from July 28 to August 11. It is for the first time that Armenia and
Iran are co-hosting events of the Army Games. Indian teams are taking part in
two major competitions– Tank Biathlon event at Alabino ranges, Moscow region
and Elbrus Ring competition in Caucasus mountains. The opening ceremony was
attended by Indian Ambassador to Russia, Pankaj Saran along with Indian
attaches attended the ceremony.
2.
Karman
Kaur Thandi from Delhi has become only the 6th Indian woman tennis player to
crack the top-200 rankings in singles and is now ranked exactly 200 in the WTA
list. Karman, backed by Mahesh Bhupathi, has been in good form in the past few
weeks, winning her maiden ITF singles title in Hong Kong and making the
semi-finals in two others in China. In April 2018, India’s top singles player
Ankita Raina had broken into the top-200 and is now ranked 195 (-4). Before
these two girls, Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha
Rao had made it to the top-200. While Sania, winner of six Grand Slam titles in
doubles, touched a career-high of 27 in singles in 2007, Nirupama’s best rank
was 134 in 1997.
3.
Gujarat
Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), the marketers of the
popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products, was awarded the ‘Marketer of the
Year’ award by the International Advertising Association of India (IAAI). The
award was received by RS Sodhi, the Managing Director (MD) of GCMMF, on behalf
of the 36 lakh milk famers and producers of Gujarat. Amul is the brand worth Rs
41,000 crore and is the biggest cooperative owned by 36 lakh farmers of
Gujarat. Amul is not only known for its cooperative structure and farmer’s
faith, but is also known for its marketing and advertizing strategies.
4.
The
World Day against Trafficking in Persons is observed every year on July 30 to
raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the
promotion and protection of their rights. The 2018 theme “Responding to the
trafficking of children and young people” highlights the fact that almost a 3rd
of trafficking victims are children. The theme draws attention to the issues
faced by trafficked children and to possible action initiatives linked to
safeguarding and ensuring justice for child victims.
5.
India’s
first in-phone tourism guide and mobile application “Go whats That” has
launched by Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural
Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, at Rock Garden in Chandigarh
on July 28, 2018. This is first of its kind app where tourist can scan QR code
at a heritage site to download the history & details of that place in
multiple languages. Initially, 1,100 tags have been placed at different tourist
spots, which will give accurate information on each artifact. The app will also
help the UT Administration in data analytics by getting real-time updates on
each place, including the number of tourists visiting the places, scan details,
etc.
6.
John
Sankaramangalam (84), the Veteran filmmaker and former director of Film and
Television Institute of India (FTTI), has passed away in Thiruvalla, Kerala on
July 30, 2018. A multi-time recipient of national and state awards,
Sankaramangalam was known for his experimental movies. Some of his directorial
ventures are “Aval Alpam Vaikippoyi”, “Janmabhoomi” and “Samantharam”.
7. Pradip
Choudhury, who formed the central defensive pair with Subroto Bhattacharya when
Mohun Bagan took on Pele’s Cosmos team in 1977, has been conferred the Mohun
Bagan Ratna 2018 at the annual day of the 129-year-old club on July 29. On the
occasion of Mohun Bagan Day 2018, Shilton Paul was given the Best Footballer
for the Year award and Sudip Chatterjee was handed the Best Cricketer of the
Year honour. Sourav Das was the Best Youth Footballer . Rahim Ali received a
special award for his performance for Indian team in the FIFA under-17 World
Cup 2017. The day is celebrated to commemorate the Mariners’ victory over East
Yorkshire Regiment 2-1 in the IFA Shield final on July 29, 1911.
8. Prabhat
Koli (19) from Maharashtra, who crossed the English Channel when he was 16, has
become the first Asian to swim the choppy water from Jersey (an Island in the
UK) to France in cold weather. The long-distance sea swimmer covered 25km in 6
hours and 54 minutes. He started off from La Coupe Point of Jersey, behind St
Catherine’s backwater and touched the shore of St Germain Plage on the Normandy
coast of France. As part of his seven seas challenge, Prabhat is now training
to cross the North Channel in Ireland in first week of August.
9.
The
Union Government has constituted a high level empowered committee to address
the issues of stressed thermal power projects. The committee will be headed by
Cabinet Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Sinha with representatives from the Ministry
of Railways, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and the
lenders having major exposure to the power sector. The Committee would look
into the various issues with a view to resolve them and maximize the efficiency
of investment including changes required to be made in the fuel allocation
policy, regulatory framework, mechanisms to facilitate sale of power, ensure
timely payments, payment security mechanism, changes required in the
provisioning norms/Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Asset Restructuring
Company (ARC) Regulations and any other measures proposed for revival of
stressed assets so as to avoid such investments becoming NPA.
10. The Andhra Pradesh government will set up
‘iHub’ (the intelligent hub), a first-of-its kind global research centre for
scientific learning with an initial investment of Rs 245 crore spread over five
years. For this purpose, the state government has already collaborated with
UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable
Development (MGIEP). Some of the social and economic objectives of iHub will be
to create 50,000 future-ready skilled manpower, reduced school dropouts and
capture the EdTech market. The initial staff will be about 40 International
researchers in disciplines such as neuro-science, education, psychology,
digital instructional design, educational technology, Artificial Intelligence,
data sciences, and gamingamong others. The centre will also issue “Global
Certification” for digital educational content.
11. The first ‘Nepal-India Think Tank’ Summit was
held in Kathmandu on July 31 to foster greater collaboration and
knowledge-sharing among the think tanks of the two countries. It was
inaugurated by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, the former Prime Minister of
Nepal and Co-Chairman of ruling Nepal Communist Party. The summit was jointly
organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDA)
and Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML). The purpose of the summit was to
support the networks and promote mutual understanding through institutional
collaboration on resource sharing for joint events / publications among think
tanks of the two countries. The participants including think tanks, policy
makers, diplomats, academicians, businesspersons and journalists deliberated on
the Indo-Nepal ties and its dimensions in different sessions.
12. The Myanmar Government has appointed an
independent 4- member commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses
against the ethnic Rohingya minority. The Independent Commission will
investigate the allegations of human rights violations and related issues,
following the terrorist attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The
commission will be comprised of two local members & two international
members. It will be headed by Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo. The other members
includes Japan’s former ambassador to the UN Kenzo Oshima, lawyer Mya Thein and
economist and former UN official Aung Tun Thet. In August 2017, more than
700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s western Rakhine state to Bangladesh after
a military crackdown started in response to attacks by ARSA on security posts.
13. The Chhattisgarh government has launched a
smartphone distribution scheme ‘Mobile Tihar’ under the Sanchar Kranti Yojna
(SKY). The scheme is for distribution of smartphones to women and students,
covering over 50 Lakh beneficiaries. As part of the scheme, 556 new mobile
towers will be installed across the state. ‘Mobile Tihar’ was launched by
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, along with National Award-winning
actress Kangana Ranaut on July 31.
14. The first cow sanctuary in Rajasthan will be
situated in Napasar, Bikaner to dedicate the entire area for cows, much on the
lines of a wildlife sanctuary. It will provide shelter for 10,000 bovines
spread over an area of more than 220 hectares in Bikaner district. The
facilities in the sanctuary will include hospitals and Sewan grass as fodder
for the animals. The state government has recently signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with a private trust in this regard. The cow sanctuary will
be the latest in a string of initiatives announced by the BJP government in the
state for the protection of bovines since it came to power in 2013. The state
already has a ministry dedicated to the welfare of cows and last year it had
announced a 10% surcharge on stamp duty towards cow protection.
15. The 2018 BRICS Film Festival took place in
Durban, South Africa, along with the International Durban Film Festival (DIFF)
from 22-27th July. The last day of the festival was celebrated as India Country
Day, followed by Awards and Closing Ceremony. The basic aim of film festival is
to celebrate world-class film productions from the BRICS nations with the
objective of inspiring more collaboration from these nations. The festival
screened four Indian Films, ‘Newton’ and ‘Village Rockstars’ in the competition
section, and Sandeep Pampally’s ‘Sinjar’ and Jayara’s ‘Bhanayakam’ in the
non-competition section. “Newton”, directed by Amit Masurkar, bagged the best
film award, while “Village Rockstars” (directed by Rima Das) won the Best
Actress (Bhanita Das) and Special Jury Award in the BRICS Film Festival 2018.
16. The Madhya Pradesh government will observe the
2018 Independence Day eve as Shahid Samman Divas to honour martyrs. The
decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting in Bhopal on July 30,
2018. According to official information, it will be a comprehensive program and
spread across all the villages, blocks and districts of Madhya Pradesh, where
rallies will be organized to mark the day. The martyrs will be paid homage and
the relatives of the martyrs will also be honoured on the day. Ministers,
members of Parliament and state legislative assembly and chief Minister himself
will meet family members of martyrs on the occasion to express gratitude for
supreme sacrifice done by their near and dear for the nation.
17. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the former West Bengal
governor, has been selected for 2018 Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award for his
outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and
goodwill. The award will be presented to him at a special ceremony on August 20
at Jawahar Bhawan. The award, which carries a citation and cash amount of Rs 10
lakh, is given on the occasion of the birthday of former prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi. It was instituted to commemorate the lasting contribution made by him
to promote peace, communal harmony and fight against violence.
18. The World Rangers Day (WRD) is celebrated
every year on July 31 to remember and appreciate the crucial services rendered
by rangers who protect, conserve and preserve the biodiversity of our forests
at the cost of their lives. The day also commemorates all the selfless men and
women who lost their lives protecting defenseless animals against human greed
in the line of duty.
19. The Meenakshi Amman temple is a historic Hindu
temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of
Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Recently, it is in news because the famous Goddess
Meenakshi temple has got its first non-Brahmin as ‘archaka’ (priest), 12 years after
the Tamil Nadu government passed an order for appointment of people from any
caste as priests. The new priest, belonging to a backward caste, was among the
206 people who had undergone training conducted by the ancient temple
administration. The temple has appointed the priest with conditions which
included that he could be suspended if he violated the ‘Agama’ rules, a manual
for worship of the deity, rituals and construction of temples.
20. The United States has recently granted
Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA-1) status to India that will ease export
of high-tech items. The designation authorises the export, re-export and
transfer (in-country) of specified items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) to
destinations posing a low risk of unauthorised or impermissible uses.
Currently, there are 36 countries on STA-1 list, almost all from the Nato and
ANZUS alliance. India is the only South Asian country to be on the list. Other
Asian countries designated as STA-1 are Japan and South Korea. Till recently
India was designated as STA-2 countries along with seven others. According to
the Department of Commerce, items that are eligible for export to STA1
destinations or nationals include items that are subject to control for:
national security (NS), chemical or biological weapons (CB), nuclear
nonproliferation (NP), regional stability (RS), crime control (CC) and
significant items (SI).
21. Rajasthan has become the first Indian state to
implement the National policy on bio fuels, which was launched by the Union
Government in May 2018. The desert State will lay emphasis on increasing
production of oilseeds and establish a Centre for Excellence in Udaipur to
promote research in the fields of alternative fuels and energy resources. The
policy on bio fuels seeks to help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an
economic manner and reduce the country’s oil import dependence. It has expanded
the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of sugarcane
juice, sugar containing materials, starch containing materials and damaged food
grains like wheat, broken rice and rotten potatoes for ethanol production.
22. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.50%
in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19. Repo rate is the
rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks in the event of any
shortfall of funds. Reverse repo rate, the rate at which the Reserve Bank
borrows money from commercial banks within the country, was adjusted to 6.25%.
Accordingly, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate too
stand adjusted at 6.75%. This time too, RBI has maintained neutral stance with
an objective of achieving the medium-term target for headline inflation of 4
per cent while supporting growth.
23. Akshay Venkatesh, a renowned Indian-Australian
mathematician, has won the 2018 Fields Medal for his profound contributions to
an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics. Venkatesh is one of
four winners of mathematics’ top honour known as the Nobel prize for math. The
Fields medals are awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians
under the age of 40. Each winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar cash prize.
The other three winners are: Caucher Birkar, a Cambridge University professor
of Iranian Kurdish origin; Germany’s Peter Scholze, who teaches at the
University of Bonn and Alessio Figalli, an Italian mathematician at ETH Zurich.
24. Umbayee (68), the noted ghazal singer and
composer from Kerala, has passed away at Aluva on August 1, 2018. Born in
Mattancherry, he was a disciple of Ustad Munawar Ali Khan and was known his
reinvention of several old Malayalam film songs in his own natural style. His
birth name was PA Ibrahim.
25. Dr Bhishma Narain Singh (85), the former Union
Minister and Congress leader, has passed away in Noida on August 1, 2018. Dr
Singh held various portfolios during the Congress rule led by former Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi. He was also the Governor of Assam and Tamil Nadu.
26. The Government of Odisha has launched a 360
degree nation-wide publicity campaign “Heartbeats for Hockey” to attract fans
for 2018 men’s hockey World Cup. The movement attempts to get India behind the
game by way of music, entertainment, fashion, pure sport and panel discussions.
Each time anyone holds the custom-made hockey stick, named ‘Heart Beat’, their
heart beat will be recorded as a pledge to support hockey. The ‘Heart Beat’
will take a round of the country through ‘Hockey Adda’, a curated on-ground
discussion platform for hockey players and experts. The event will take place
at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 28 to December 16. The
state is the title partner for the hockey event and Odisha Tourism is the host
partner. The maximum players in the national team are also from Odisha.
27. India has been ranked 96th in the United
Nation’s E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2018. The survey, released by UN
every two years, noted that India has scored 100% in the first stage of the E-Participation
sub-index, followed by 95.65% in the second stage and 90.91% in the third
stage. The overall score of 0.9551 on the E-Participation sub-index has put
India among top 15 countries in the list of 193 counties surveyed. In this
category, India has emerged as sub-region leader. Denmark is the world leader,
both on E-Government index and E-Participation sub-index.
28. The Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY) has launched a desktop software ‘e-Aksharayan’ for
converting any scanned or printed Indian language documents into a fully
editable text format in Unicode encoding. The text can be also saved
separately. The application is free of cost and supports editing in 7 Indian
languages viz. Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Kannada &
Assamese.
29. K. Anvar Sadath, the vice chairman and
executive director of the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education
(KITE), has won the 2018 International Contributions Award given by the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), USA. He has
been chosen for the award to recognize his outstanding contribution to the
field of educational communication and technology in an international setting.
With this, he has become the first Indian to be honoured with the International
Contributions award. The award will be presented at 2018 AECT International
Convention function to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 26, 2018.
The AECT is a premier professional association for instructional design and
educational technology.
30. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently
launched a landmark 3-month visa amnesty programme which will benefit hundreds
of illegal foreign workers, including Indians, overstaying their permits by
allowing them to leave the country without penalties and giving them six months
to find a job. The UAE is home to 2.8 million Indian expatriates, the largest
expatriate community in the country. Professionally qualified personnel
constitute about 15 to 20% of the community, followed by 20% white-collar
non-professionals and the remainder 65% comprises blue-collar workers. The
government did not release specific numbers, but says thousands of people,
primarily labourers from countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Nepal and the Philippines, will benefit from the amnesty scheme which will
facilitate their smooth return to their home countries. As per Federal
Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA), the entity responsible for entry
and residence of foreigners in the UAE, visa violators before August 1, 2018
will be able to rectify their status legally during the amnesty period, which
will end on October 31.
31. The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has recently
approved an unemployment allowance scheme “Mukhyamantri Yuva Nestam” through
which an allowance of Rs 1000 per month will be provided to unemployed youth in
the state. Unemployed youths with a degree or diploma between the ages of 22
and 35 years are eligible to avail the benefit. The state government will set
up a website for the scheme by the end of August, where a 15-day registration
window will be open for potential beneficiaries of the scheme. The amount will
be directly transferred into their bank account. The state government decided
to implement this scheme to benefit as many as 12 lakh youths of the state. It
has also been decided that 20,000 job vacancies, 9,000 teacher posts and other
department vacancies will be filled.
32. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind
presented the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award (OPA) for the years 2013-2017
in New Delhi on August 1, 2018. Dr Najma Heptullah, the Manipur’s governor and
5-times Rajya Sabha member, won the award for 2013. Meanwhile, BJP’s Lok Sabha
member Hukum Dev Narayan was the recipient of OPA for 2014, Congress leader
Ghulam Nabi Azad for 2015, Trinamool Congress’ Dinesh Trivedi for 2016 and
Bhartruhari Mahtab of the Lok Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for 2017. The OPA is an
award given by the Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) to an outstanding sitting
Member of Parliament (MP) for overall contribution in the Parliament. It was
instituted in 1992 by Shivraj Patil, who was the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 1991
to 1996.
33. The Telangana government will setup a state of
the art “B-Hub” for biotech and biopharma sector in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.
It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, aimed at providing
much-needed support to the biopharma research and development activities,
featuring a scale-up manufacturing facility along with a turnkey incubator, lab
space module at GLP grade spreading over a built-up area of 40,000 sq.ft. This
end-to-end biopharma scale-up manufacturing facility will give domestic
companies the required impetus here on par with Korea, China and France who
have taken lead in biopharma innovation. The estimated project cost of B-Hub is
Rs 60 crore and the facility is to be set up through Public-Private Partnership
(PPP) in Genome Valley, which is the India’s first organised cluster for life
sciences R&D and clean manufacturing activities.
34. Sashi Cheliah, an Indian origin prison guard
from Adelaide, has clinched the title of MasterChef Australia 2018 after
scoring 93 out of 100 points. He defeated fellow contestant Ben Borsht, who
scored 77 out of 100. For the first round, Cheliah made a sambal prawns
starter, which got him a perfect 30 while his second recipe for the grand
finale was a fish curry and cumin rice dish that he made to honour his aunt.
The winner took home the MasterChef Australia trophy and a winning amount of
$2,50,000 (almost Rs 1.7 crore) while the first runner-up was awarded $40,000
(around Rs 27 lakh).
35. Lewis Hamilton, a British racing driver who
races in Formula One for Mercedes AMG Petronas, has won the 2018 Hungarian
Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit. It is his sixth Hungarian Grand Prix
title and also 67th career victory.
36. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
has launched a dedicated portal – Forum of Cargo Owners and Logistics Operators
(FOCAL) – to connect cargo owners and shippers with real time data on
availability of vessels. The landmark e-connect measure will enable direct
interaction among the vessel operators, shippers and cargo owners as currently,
there is no platform to know the availability of vessels in the market. It has
been designed and developed by the in-house IT Department and the traffic wing
of IWAI as part of its preparedness for optimal use of its ongoing capacity
development on various National Waterways. FOCAL will facilitate responses from
the logistic operators against the requirement raised by cargo owners and vice-versa.
The users can register on the portal to key in the availability and details of
vessels or the available cargo, as the case may be. Cargo owners will be able
to put details like the origin, destination, type of cargo etc.
37. On August 10, the NITI Aayog will host an
Investors’ Conference for the Holistic Development of Islands at Pravasi
Bharatiya Kendra and will be inaugurated by Amitabh Kant (CEO of NITI Aayog).
The purpose of the conference is to attract investments for the sustainable
development of eco-tourism projects on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis
in the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands. Approx 11 anchor tourism
projects are proposed to be implemented with private sector participation under
suitable risk-sharing model and through open-competitive bidding.
38. Following the publication of the final draft
of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Manipur government has
constituted two committees – state and district level – to deal with a possible
influx of illegal immigrants. The State Level Monitoring Committee will monitor
the entry or presence of illegal immigrants in the state and take steps for
creating adequate public awareness to counter the situation. It will be headed
by Special Secretary (Home) while the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents
of Police as its members. The district level committee will be headed by the
concerned deputy commissioners while Superintendent of Police, SDOs, SDPO,
SDCs, OCs will be the members. The committee with local bodies would likely to
conduct headcounts if needed.
39. Jalees Sherwani (70), the veteran screenplay
writer, has passed away in Mumbai. Maharashtra on August 1, 2018. He had penned
lyrics for several Salman Khan films like “Dabangg”, “Wanted” and “Tere Naam”.
Apart from writing dialogues for “Sangam” and “Loafer”, Sherwani also penned
lyrics for films like “Partner”, “Hello”, “Garv” and “Hello Brother”.
40. NITI Aayog has launched a global mobility
hackathon ” Move Hack” to crowdsource solutions for future of mobility in
India. Focused on 10 themes and open to individuals from all nationalities, the
hackathon will have an online leg, followed by a Singapore leg, and the finals
in New Delhi. The purpose of MoveHack is to bring about innovative, dynamic and
scalable solutions to problems pertaining to mobility. It has two-pronged
campaign approach: (a) “Just Code It”: aimed at solutions through innovations
in technology / product / software and data analysis, and (b) “Just Solve It”:
innovative business ideas or sustainable solutions to transform mobility
infrastructure through technology. The hackathon is organized in partnership
with Government of Singapore and is powered by Hacker Earth. PwC is the
Knowledge Partner and NASSCOM is the Strategic Partner.
41. Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar has won the
2018 Fiji International title. It is his first win on the European Tour, ninth
Asian Tour and 10th international title overall. Thus, he became the most
successful Indian player on Asian Tour and the first Indian to win on Australasia
Tour. Bhullar joined Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia and Anirban
Lahiri as the only Indians to win on the European Tour as this was sanctioned
by Asian, Australasia and European Tours. The victory also granted him an
exemption on all three Tours till end of 2019. Other Indian in fray, Ajeetesh
Sandhu scored 71 in the final round to end his campaign at the tied 43rd spot.
42. Raveendran Kasthuri, a Kannur native, has
assumed charge as new CEO of the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society
Ltd (ULCCS) on August 6. ULCCS is one of the largest Co-operative Societies in
India. Earlier, he was with IBM as its vice president and head of integrated
operation. The ULCCS was formed in 1925 by the eminent social reformer Guru
Vagbhatananda in a remote hamlet called Uralungal in Kozhikode district, as a
novel mass movement against the anarchies of the caste system prevalent in
those days. The society has now grown to be one of the biggest Labour Contract
Societies in the country, providing direct employment to more than 6000 workers
from rural areas. It is now having an asset worth Rs 99402 lakhs.
43. On August 3, the 10th International conference
on oral implantology was held in New Delhi to enhance the awareness and
knowledge on the latest innovations and technologies in oral implantology world
over. The 3-day conference hosted by Academy of Oral Implantology (AOI) has
representations by doctors from the UK, the US, Israel, Austria, Germany,
Italy, South Korea and Spain. Oral implantology is a highly dynamic specialty
and has over the years, introduced innumerable modifications and improvements
for dental treatment of patients. The vision is to promote latest technologies
and encourage younger doctors, in the field of innovation. Experienced professionals
will share their work, expertise with the younger crop and this translates into
sharing of knowledge from different parts of the globe. Various companies from
the medical field have also showcased their advanced products and technologies.
Teeth decay, loss of teeth due to old age, diseases or accidents, bad and
crooked teeth, teeth decay happen due to bad oral hygiene. The event also seeks
to raise awareness about oral hygiene for better dental care.
44. The Karnataka government has launched a rural
cleanliness and sanitation campaign “Swachhameva Jayate” to make every citizen
in rural Karnataka take a pledge of cleanliness. The aim of the campaign is to
boost the Swachh Survkekshan Grameen 2018 (SSG 2018) survey in all the
districts with the help of school children. Since the inception of Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan, the government of Karnataka has constructed a total of 22 lakh
toilets in 29,736 villages. The state needs another 5 lakh toilets in its rural
areas before October 2 to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. The 2018
SSG survey will rank all Indian districts and states on the basis of
qualitative and quantitative evaluation of sanitation status of the villages
and will run from August 1 to 31. While the survey will target 698 districts,
6,980 villages, 34,900 public places randomly across the country, Swachha Meva
Jayate will aim to take messages about the parameters of the survey to every
rural household in Karnataka. The survey will measure and rank villages across
India on the basis of availability and access to toilets, cleanliness of public
spaces, and feedback and opinions of citizens.
45. Molecular biologists at the Centre for
Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences in China have claimed to create the
world’s first single-chromosome yeast while not affecting the majority of its
functions. If their claim is true then this breakthrough could help in
furthering research related to aging and diseases in humans. They used
CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing to create a single-chromosome yeast strain. Using the
CRISPR-Cas9, the research team removed the DNA at the telomeres, the ends of
chromosomes that protect them from degrading. They also snipped out the
centromeres, sequences in the middle that are important to DNA replication. The
research may also pave the way for new man-made species in the future.
46. The Himachal Pradesh government has launched
“Horn Not Ok’’ awareness campaign in Shimla and Mandi along with a statewide
mobile application ‘shaur nahin’ (no noise). The main aim of the campaign is to
spread awareness of unnecessary blowing horn as it creates unnecessary noise
pollution. The other towns of the state will also be brought under the purview
of no honking zones after the successful execution of this campaign in the two
tourist places for 2 months. Though, no-honking rule will not be applicable on
emergency vehicles, including ambulances and fire tenders. The “Shor Nahin”
application has been developed to report any noise pollution complaint to the
authorities. It’s an initiative of the Department of Environment, Science and
Technology in association with the NIC of Himachal Pradesh. It allows a user to
lodge a complaint with the officials concerned, including deputy commissioner,
superintendent of police and sub divisional magistrate, who can upload the
action taken report on the app.
47. In Uttar Pradesh, the iconic Mughalsarai
junction has been formally renamed after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay
(DDU), who was found dead in mysterious circumstances near the station in
February 1968. The DDU station is more than 150 years old and one of the
busiest railway stations in India. The station contains the largest railway
marshaling yard in Asia. It was inaugurated by BJP national president Amit
shah. Beside this, he also flagged off a passenger train with an all-women crew
and a goods train at the DDU station. As per Railway officials, it will be the
first time in India that an all-woman crew will run a train. Mughalsarai is
also the birthplace of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. It is a part
of the Chandauli Parliamentary seat which is presently held by UP BJP president
Mahendra Nath Pandey.
48. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has
conducted the first-ever Orientation Workshop on Election Management for IAS
Asstt Secretaries in New Delhi on August 3, 2018. The aim of the workshop is to
familiarize the Assistant Secretaries with all facets of Electoral Management
before they are required to handle crucial assignments in conducting Elections
in their field postings soon. In it, Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash
Rawat advised the officers to be prepared for facing the newer challenges like
Data harvesting; targeted messaging & profiling; money and media
influencers.
49. Ranjit Srivastava, the Ranchi-based software
developer, has claimed to develop the world’s first Hindi speaking realistic
humanoid robot and India’s first lip-synching robot. The robot “Rashmi” has
developed in 2 years at a minimum cost of Rs 50,000. In simple words,
Srivastava developed an Indian version of a social humanoid robot ‘Sophia’ that
was developed by a Hong Kong based company. The robot can speak Hindi, Bhojpuri
and Marathi along with English. It uses Linguistic Interpretation (LI),
Artificial Intelligence (AI), visual data and facial recognition systems. It functions
under a specially designed software and linguistic interpretation system. The
LI programme analyses the feeling of the conversation while AI program analyses
the conversation to extract the response from the device.
50. India has been elected as the President of the
Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) for a period of 2
years. India got elected against Iran during voting which took place at the
44th annual gathering of AIBD in Colombo, Sri Lanka on August 4, 2018. Director
General of All India Radio (AIR) F. Sheheryar was re-elected as chair of the
executive board while Sri Lanka was elected as vice-chair. The broadcasters
from 26 countries in the region including India are full members of the
organization. AIBD, established in 1977 under the auspices of UNESCO, is a
unique regional inter-governmental organisation and is mandated to achieve a
vibrant and cohesive electronic media environment in the Asia-Pacific region
through policy and resource development.
51. The two week-long joint military exercise
“Maitree 2018′ has started between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army in Thailand
on August 6 with a focus on enhancing anti-terror cooperation between the two
sides. The exercise will emphasize to hone the tactical and technical skills in
joint counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in rural and urban
scenario under UN mandate. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a
series of well developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats
that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario. Experts from both sides will
also hold detailed discussions to share their experience on varied topics for
mutual benefit. Exercise Maitree will contribute immensely in developing mutual
understanding and bonhomie between the two armies in order to counter
terrorism.
52. The Telangana government has signed pact with
Tech Mahindra to establish the Blockchain district in Hyderabad, a
first-of-its-kind Centre of Excellence for Blockchain. The MoU was signed
during the 3-day International congress at HICC in Hyderabad. Initially it
would be a virtual cluster, connecting with the stakeholders working in the
emerging technology. It would have a physical building at a later phase. Tech
Mahindra, as a founding member of the Blockchain district, will provide
platform and technology assistance to all the incubators in the district.
Eleven01 Foundation will develop an India-specific protocol that will define
the standards for usage of Blockchain. Besides, the International Institute of
Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) will make part of its protocol
development research to the virtual cluster of Blockchain district.
53. The group of computer scientists and a team of
students from the IIT- Madras have developed the first of a family of six industry-standard
microprocessors under Project Shakti. The initial batch of 300 chips, named
‘RISECREEK’, has been fabricated for free at the Intel facility in Oregon (US),
which was used to run the Linux operating system. The design of microprocessors
is open source. They optimize power use and compete with international units
such as the Cortex A5 from Advanced RISC Machines (ARM). The entire team was
lead by Dr. Neel Gala, who is an alumnus of IIT-Madras. The team had used a
BlueSpec System Verilog language, which helped them capture the processor
functionality. At a frequency of 350 MHz, RISECREEK can meet the demands of
defence and strategic equipment such as NAVIC (Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite) and Internet of Things (IoT) electronics.
54. Rajinder Kumar Dhawan (81), the veteran
Congress leader and a former Union minister, has passed away in New Delhi on
August 6, 2018. As personal secretary and confidante to Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi, Dhawan was a witness to Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984. During his
years as Indira Gandhi’s personal secretary, from 1962 to 1984, Dhawan
reportedly wielded immense clout, with some claiming that he controlled
information and access to the then prime minister. During the Emergency years
(1975-77), Dhawan was among Indira Gandhi’s inner circle of leaders. However,
Indira’s son, Rajiv, after initially removing Dhawan from his post, cleared him
of all charges. He continued to retain enormous clout in the Congress even
after Rajiv Gandhi’s death and was subsequently elected twice to Rajya Sabha
and was a member of the Congress Working Committee. He was Minister for Urban
Development when P V Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister.
55. The Central Government has approved 122 new
research projects of Rs 112 crore under its Impacting Research Innovation and
Technology ‘IMPRINT-2’ scheme. The aim of the initiative is to advance research
in energy, security, and healthcare domains in the high education institutions.
IMPRINT is the first of its kind government supported initiative to address the
major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion
to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.
The proposals were approved at the IMPRINT 2 Apex Committee meeting held in New
Delhi on August 4, 2018.
56. M Bhakthavatsala (84), the well-known Kannada
film producer, distributor and exhibitor, has passed away in Bengaluru,
Karnataka on August 6, 2018. He was an officer in Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)
and later turned to films through distribution and managing theatres. He was
known for producing critically acclaimed movies like ‘Sandhyaraga’ and
‘Kanneshwara Rama’. Bhakthavatsala served as president of Karnataka Film
Chamber of Commerce for 7 years and was the only Kannadiga to chair the Indian
Film Chamber of Commerce. He had diverse interests such as literature,
mountaineering, etc.
57. The National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI) has signed pact with the State Bank of India (SBI) for a long-term
unsecured loan to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore. This is SBI’s highest long-term
unsecured loan to any entity and also the largest ever loan sanctioned to NHAI.
There is no principal repayment liability for initial 3 years. After 3 years,
the repayment would be done in 14 equal half yearly instalments. The total loan
tenure is 10 years. NHAI can repay/ prepay it at any time without any
prepayment penalty. The total sanctioned amount of Rs 25000 Crore is to be
disbursed within 31st March 2019. Rate of interest would be based on one month
MCLR. Interest accrued on the amount actually outstanding will be paid on
monthly basis. NHAI can draw the amount in any number of tranches, latest by
31st March 2019.
58. Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain has
become the first woman shuttler to win the women’s singles World Badminton
Championships thrice with an emphatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India in
Nanjing, China on August 5, 2018. Earlier, Marin won the title in 2014 and the
2015 Jakarta edition. Sindhu didn’t have answers to Marin’s blistering pace in
the 45 minutes that the match lasted. The second silver meant Sindhu is the
only Indian to have four world championships podium finishes. She had won two
bronze medals at the 2013 Guangzhou and 2014 Copenhagen editions. In men’s
singles, Kento Momota of Japan won the title with an easy 21-13, 21-11 victory
over local boy Shi Yuqi. With this victory, Kento Momota became the first
Japanese man to win the Championships.
59. In the 14th edition of Women’s Hockey World
Cup 2018, defending champions the Netherlands recorded a stunning 6-0 victory
over Ireland in the summit clash at London on August 5 to extend their unbeaten
run in all competitions to 32 matches. It must be noted that the Netherlands
have been crowned the world champions for a record 8th time. Kitty van Male,
who was among the 6 different goal scorers, finished the tournament as the top
scorer with 8 goals. Spain won the third place match by beating Australia 3-1
to claim their first ever World Cup medal. India finished the tournament at the
8th spot.
60. Dr. Ajay Data from Jaipur, the Founder and CEO
of Data XGen Plus, has become the first Indian to be appointed a council member
of ICANN panel Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO). He has got a
2-year term and will take up the position during ICANN ‘s 63rd Annual General
Meeting in Spain in October 2018. He will represent India at a global level and
will also be the custodian of Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands as a member
of ccNSO. The ccNSO is ICANN’s policy-development body for global issues
regarding country code top-level domains (ccTLD) within the ICANN structure.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit
organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of
several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the
Internet, ensuring the network’s stable and secure operation
61. In Madhya Pradesh, the elephants at the Kanha
National Park (KNP) are on a week-long picnic. This picnic, which is arranged
every year, includes massaging for the elephants and a delicious menu. The
purpose of a picnic is to provide family time to Jumbo. The Kanha National Park
management has been organizing such picnic for the service of more than a dozen
elephants for the past 7-8 years. Picnic includes bathing of elephants,
massaging as well as special health tests and treatments. Elephants are given
their favourite food like mango, sugarcane, pineapple, banana, coconut and
Jaggery. During this period, all the elephants of National Park are residing in
one place as a bigger family. Picnic is also helpful in increasing the
population of elephants.
62. The Indian Under-20 football team has created history
by winning the 2018 Cotif Cup football tournament by defeating the 6-time U20
World Cup champions Argentina by 2-1 in their final match in Spain on 6 August.
Deepak Tangri scored for India in the 4th minute and Anwar Ali’s 68th minute
put India 2-0 up against the most successful team in U-20 World Cup history.
Argentina pulled one back in the 72nd minute, and hit the cross bar in added
time, but failed to break the Indian resolve as India concluded the tournament
with a memorable performance.
63. The 22nd edition of ‘Parampara series –
National Festival of Music and Dance’ festival will be held at Kamani Auditorim
in New Delhi from August 10, 2018. The purpose of the festival is to offer a
platform to young talents trying to make their foothold in the world of art and
culture. It is organised by Natya Tarangini led by Padma Bhushan awardee
Kuchipudi couple Raja and Radha Reddy. The 3-day event will also see
performances by veteran classical dance couple ‘The Dhananjayans’ (Shanta and
Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan) and Kathak exponent Uma Dogra. The festival
has featured artistes like Grammy winning instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan
Bhatt, Carnatic vocalist Abhishek Raghuram, Khyal singers Pandit Rajan and
Sajan Mishra are among the many eminent artistes.
64. On August 6, the world’s first-ever facility
to create thermal batteries has been inaugurated in Andhra Pradesh by the
state’s Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati. The thermal battery
plant, which is manufactured by the Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private
Limited (BEST), is expected to start commercial operations by May 2019. The
technology will help in mitigating carbon emissions and is best suited for grid
balancing and stabilisations. It will also be used to store energy for telecommunication,
commercial establishments, electric vehicles and highway charging stations. It
can also be effectively used in remote locations, such as hilly terrains and
islands. The BEST also aims to set up a Greenfield Project in India, at an
estimated cost of Rs 660 crores, through which nearly 3000 jobs are expected to
be created within three years’ time. It must be noted that the thermal battery
technology was patented in India by Dr Patrick Glynn in 2016.
65. The Parliament of India has passed the 123rd
Constitutional Amendment Bill, which grants constitutional status to the
National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). The bill was passed after the
House repealed the NCBC Act, 1993. It will contribute to the empowerment of the
OBC communities across India. The bill states that the President may specify
the socially and educationally backward classes in the various states and union
territories. He may do this in consultation with the Governor of the concerned
state. It will give the institution all powers to safeguard the rights of the
socially and educationally backward classes and fulfils a long pending
commitment of the central govt to the OBCs. The Clause-3 (5) of the Bill gives
the proposed Commission the power to inquire into complaints of deprivation of
rights and safeguards. Clause 3 (8) gives it the powers of a civil court trying
a suit and allows it to summon anyone, require documents to be produced and
receive evidence on affidavit.
66. NITI Aayog’s International Conference on
“Sustainable Growth through Material Recycling: Policy Prescriptions”was held
at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi on August 6, 2018. It was inaugurated
by the Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Ganga Rejuvenation,
Nitin Gadkari. The day long conference brought together a host of experts for
identifying policy prescriptions for the development and growth of material
recycling in India towards creating more jobs, reduce dependence on exports,
protect the environment and take steps towards adopting circular economy
concepts.
67. The communication exercise “Pacific
Endeavor-2018 (PE-18)” under the Multinational Communications Interoperability
Program (MCIP) has started in Kathmandu, Nepal on August 6, 2018. The basic
objective of 12 day exercise is to develop common communications operating
procedures to enable military forces in the Asia Pacific region to collectively
work in the wake of disaster. Around 270 personnel from 20 Asia-Pacific
Countries are participating in the exercise, which is jointly organised by the Nepali
Army and United States Pacific Command (USPC). The Pacific Endeavor began in
2005 and it focuses on establishing rapid and effective inter-operable
communication systems to jointly act in disaster relief operations.
68. The Indian women chess team has clinched the
gold in the Blitz event at the Asian Nations Chess Cup 2018 at Hamadan, Iran on
August 3. It’s India’s first gold-medal finish at the event since 2014. The
Indian team comprising Harika Dronavalli, Eesha Karavade, Padmini Rout,
Vaishali R and Aakanksha Haga left the teams from Vietnam and China behind to
clinch gold. Apart from this, they also bagged a silver and a bronze in the
Rapid and Classical categories, respectively. India (1st) finished with 21.5
points, Vietnam (2nd) settled for silver with 18.5 and China (3rd) bagged
bronze with 17.5.
69. The Union government has constituted a
4-member Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by the Union Minister of Commerce and
Industry Suresh Prabhu, to look into issues related to the proposed mega free
trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The GoM
will deliberate upon the issues being raised by the industry as well as
government departments. There is concern across ministries that joining the
accord could severely dent local manufacturing and jobs and that China’s
$60-billion trade surplus with India will swell even further as it floods the
market with cheap goods at zero tariff. Apart from Prabhu, the panel comprises
interim finance minister Piyush Goyal, defence minister (former commerce
minister) Nirmala Sitharaman and housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep
Singh Puri. The RCEP bloc consists of 10 ASEAN group members (Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and
Vietnam) and their six FTA partners — India, China, Japan, South Korea,
Australia and New Zealand. The first meeting of this group is expected to be
held on 10 August.
70. Muthuvel Karunanidhi (94), the former Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister and DMK patriarch, was the author of the Tamil historical
novel “Thenpandi Singam”. The novel was based on a legendary story of Valukku
Veli, a Petty chief ruling Paganeri Nadu. Karunanidhi, who passed away in
Chennai on 7th August 2018, became the chief minister in 1971, 1989, 1996 and
2006. He was a legislator for six decades since 1957, when he won for the first
time from Kulithalai constituency, till 2016, when he emerged victorious from
Tiruvarur as a 92-year-old, barring the period between 1986 and 1989. Apart
from politics, Karunanidhi penned screenplays and dialogues for over 50 movies.
He also wrote the stories of some of them like Marudanattu Ilavarasi (1950)
Mandiri Kumari (1950), Tirumbipar (1953) and Arasilangkumari (1961).
71. As per Section 8 (1) (c) of the RBI Act 1934,
Chartered Accountant Swaminathan Gurumurthy has been appointment as
non-official director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
for a period of 4 years. He is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch and is also the editor of Tamil magazine
Thuglak. Besides him, the government has also appointed businessman Satish
Kashinath Marathe as another non-official director on the RBI board for 4
years.
72. UNESCO has included the Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in the list of World Network of Biosphere Reserve
(WNBR) at the 30th Session of the Man and Biosphere International Coordinating
Council (ICC) in Palembang, Indonesia. With this, KBR has now become the
India’s 11th internationally designated WNBR and joined the list of other
biospheres such as Nandadevi, Simlipal, Sunderbans, Nokrek , Pachmarhi and
Nilgiri. The reserve, which is located in Sikkim, includes a range of ecoclines
varying from subtropical to arctic, as well as vast natural forests in
different biomes that support an immensely rich diversity of forest types and
habitats resulting in high species diversity and endemism. The core zone of the
biosphere alone has over 150 glaciers and 73 glacial lakes, the prominent one
being the famous 26-km-long Zemu glacier. It is home to a number of globally
threatened fauna including musk deer, snow leopard, red panda and Himalayan
Tahr and many ethnic communities including Lepcha, Nepalese, and Bhutia.
73. The Mizoram government will start the
repatriation process of Bru (Reang) tribals from Tripura to Mizoram from August
14 to September 10. The Brus are in Tripura since late 1997 in the wake of a
communal tension triggered by the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa
Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997 by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF)
militants. Regarding to this issue, the Centre, state governments of Mizoram
and Tripura and the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), the apex body
of the Bru community in the relief camps, have on July 3 signed an agreement in
New Delhi for repatriation of all the Bru refugees from Tripura before
September 30. According to the agreement, Rs 4 lakh would be deposited in the
account of the head of each repatriated Bru family, which would mature after
three years, and a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance. Each
repatriated Bru family would also be given Rs 5,000 through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) every month and free ration for two years. Altogether 32,876
Brus belonging to 5,407 families are lodged in six relief camps in North
Tripura district.
74. The 11th edition of the India Art Fair 2019
will be held from January 31 to February 3 in New Delhi. It is best known for
its strong representation of leading Indian galleries alongside selected
exhibitors from across the world. The art fair will attracts visitors with an
interest in the art world, such as curators, artists, collectors, journalists,
gallerists and critics and art lovers.The director of the 4-day annual art fair
will be Jagdip Jagpal.
75. Prof. Talat Ahmad, the renowned earth
scientist, has become the new vice chancellor of the University of Kashmir. He
succeeded Khurshid Iqbal Andrabi. Prior to this post, Ahmad was the vice
chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia. He has been a recipient of several
prestigious awards and citations, including the National Mineral Award, 1994
from the Government of India. He has also been a fellow of the Indian National
Science Academy in New Delhi, Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore, fellow
of the National Academy of Sciences in Allahabad, J C Bose National Fellowship,
DST, New Delhi.
76. The 4th edition of National Handloom Day
(NHD-2018) is celebrated every year in India on August 7 to honour Indian
handloom weavers and celebrate the rich cultural legacy of handlooms in the
country. The handloom industry is one of the largest cottage industries in
India. It provides direct and indirect employment to thousands of people across
regions. The 7th of August has been chosen to celebrate the day due to its
special significance in India’s history. It was on this day that the Swadeshi
Movement was launched in 1905. The movement involved revival of domestic
products and production processes.
77. Italian motorcycle-maker Benelli has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telangana government to set up a
manufacturing facility at Medichal, Pochampally, Hyderabad. Under the agreement
with Adishwar Auto Ride India (AARI), a subsidiary of Mahavir Group, the assembly
plant on 3 acres in Kompally is expected to become operational by October 2018.
It will have a capacity to assemble 10,000 bikes and begin with around 100
employees. The partnership entitles AARI to assemble, manufacture bikes and
import exclusive range of Benelli bikes from Italy and South East Asia regions.
Established in 1911, Benelli is one of the oldest Italian
motorcycle-manufacturer and has a presence in over 60 countries such as
America, Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific regions.
78. NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh has been
elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha after defeating opposition
nominee B K Hariprasad on 9th August 2018. Mr Harivansh, a veteran journalist,
represents the state of Bihar in the House as a JD(U) member. He polled 125
votes as against 105 by Hariprasad in a division of voting in the House.The
post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman was lying vacant since the retirement of P
J Kurien on July 1, 2018.
79. Avi Goel (14), the Indian-American high school
student, has won the International Geography Bee World Championship 2018 in
junior varsity division in Berlin, Germany. Avi is a tenth grader at Silver
Creek High School in Evergreen, San Jose, California. He won a gold medal in 7
out of the 10 medal events, and a silver medal in two of the events, topping
the overall medals table. He also bagged the top spot in all the three events
counting towards the world championship title: the International Geography
Exam, the International Geography Showdown, and the International Geography
Bee. The competition took place from 11th to 18th of last month, bringing
together over 100 of the world’s top geography students to vie for the world
championship title in the subject. The competition was held by International
Academic Competitions, a worldwide organization that runs academic competitions
across the world, including the newly formed International Geography Bee.
80. Mathrubhumi, the leading media group of
Kerala, has launched its new venture ‘Mathrubhumi Media School’ in Kochi on
August 8, 2018. The purpose of the school is to promote excellence in the field
of media, and to infuse broad knowledge, integrity and social commitment. It
offers several comprehensive courses for an aspiring journalist, with a
distinguished faculty dedicated to training the next generation of focused
journalists in the state -of- the – art facilities the Group has within its
media network and at other media establishments. The year-long programme
includes hands-on media exposure, projects and assignments specially focused on
experiential learning through field experience, collaboration with leading
media houses for training and 2 months internship for students. Mathrubhumi,
which is a Malayalam newspaper, was founded in 1922 by K P Kesava Menon, an
active volunteer in the Indian freedom struggle against the British.
81. Dr. Ram Sewak Sharma has been reappointed the
Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) till 30th September
2020. He was in July 2015 named as the TRAI chief for a three-year period. Recently,
he triggered a debate around safety of Aadhaar by tweeting his Aadhaar number
and challenging Twitter users to cause any harm from the knowledge of the
number. TRAI is a statutory body set up by the Government of India (GoI) under
section 3 of the TRAI Act, 1997. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.
82. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind
inaugurated the ‘One District One Product (ODOP)’ Summit in Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh on August 10, 2018. The summit has been organised by the Uttar Pradesh government
to promote traditional industries and spur local trade. During the summit, with
a tagline of ‘Nayi Udaan, Nayi Pehchan’, the President distributed loan
sanction papers to some artisans. The summit is stated to be the first of its
kind in the country and is expected to give a big boost to the MSME and
handicraft in the state. Uttar Pradesh is uniquely famous for product-specific
traditional industrial hubs across 75 districts, including Varanasi (Banarasi
silk sari), Bhadohi (carpet), Lucknow (chikan), Kanpur (leather goods), Agra
(leather footwear), Aligarh (locks), Moradabad (brassware), Meerut (sports
goods) and Saharanpur (wooden products).
83. The International Day of the World’s
Indigenous Peoples is observed every year on August 9 in recognition of the
first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in
Geneva in 1982. On this day, people from around the world are encouraged to
spread the UN’s message on the protection and promotion of the rights of
indigenous peoples. The 2018 theme “Indigenous peoples’ migration and movement”
focus on the current situation of indigenous territories, the root causes of
migration, trans-border movement and displacement, with a specific focus on
indigenous peoples living in urban areas and across international borders.
84. The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers
Ltd (GRSE) has become the first defence Public Sector Units (PSU) to be
activated on the TReDS (Trade Receivable Discounting System) platform. The
platform enables discounting of invoices of MSME sellers against large buyers
through an auction mechanism, helping prompt realisation of trade receivables
at competitive market rates and helps avoid the constraints in obtaining
financing. The platform hosts 15 financers including Allahabad Bank, Bank of
Baroda (BoB), Union Bank of India (UBI) and Vijaya Bank.
85. Javelin thrower star Neeraj Chopra from
Haryana will be India’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian
Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. He will lead India’s contingent in the multi-sport
event. So far, Chopra won gold in 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG),
2017 Asian Athletic championships, 2016 South Asian Games and the 2016 World
Junior Championships. He also holds the for U-20 world record with a throw of
86.48m. He is currently coached by Uwe Hohn, a retired German track and field
athlete.
86. NCW member Rekha Sharma from Haryana has been
appointed the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW). She
was recently embroiled in a controversy after she recommended abolishing the
practice of “confessions” in churches as it can lead to blackmailing of women,
after such a case came to light in Kerala. The NCW is a statutory body of the
Government of India (GoI), which represent the rights of women in India and to
provide a voice for their issues and concerns.
87. The World Biodiesel Day (WBD) is observed
every year on August 10 to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil
fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and to highlight the
various efforts made by the Government in the biofuel sector. The day also
honours the research experiments by Sir Rudolf Diesel who ran an engine with
peanut oil in the year of 1893. In India, the 2018 WBD is observed by the
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. On this occasion, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi launched “Pro Active and Responsive facilitation by interactive
and Virtuous Environment Single window Hub” (PARIVESH) at WBD Programme at
Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. He also released book on National Biofuel Policy
2018. The Biofuels policy has the objective of reaching 20% ethanol-blending
and 5% biodiesel-blending by the year 2030.
88. Justice Gita Mittal has been sworn in as the
Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. She was administered the
oath of office by Governor N.N. Vohra. She is the first woman Chief Justice of
Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
89. On August 10, 2018, the Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve (KBR) of Sikkim has been included in the UNESCO’s World
Network of Biosphere Reserve (WHBR). With this, number of biosphere reserves
from the country included in World Network of Biosphere Reserves has increased
to 11. KBR is the highest biosphere reserve in the country that includes the
third highest mountain peak in the world, Kanchenjunga (8,586 m).
90. Nobel prize winning scientist Marie Curie was
the most influential woman in this poll. The magazine ranked Polish born Curie
at the top of a list of 100 women who changed the world, for her role in
treating cancer.
91. The Punjab Government will start ‘Tatkal Sewa’
for property registration across the state from 13th August 2018. The state
government has fixed the sum of Rs 5,000 as facilitation charges to seek
appointment for ‘tatkal’ (instant) registration for properties. Beside this, an
hour-long slot from 9 am to 10 am has been reserved for availing the service
under instant mode. People could seek an appointment by visiting the website
“www.revenue.punjab.gov.in”. So far, over 1.62 lakh online documents have been
registered under the new system. This service comes on the heels of the State
starting on line property registration in June 2018.
92. Annie Zaidi, an Indian author, has won the
2018 Hindu Playwright Award 2018 for her play ‘Untitled’ at the 14th edition of
The Hindu Theatre Fest at the Taj Coromandel. The award was presented by Ratna
Pathak Shah, actor and director. The award, instituted in 2008, carries a prize
of Rs 2 lakh for the best original, unpublished and unperformed play script in
English.
93. The document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’
has been released by Union Minister for Electronics & Information
Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in Guwahati, Assam. Under this vision, the Union
government will invest nearly Rs. 10,000 crore in the region over the next 4
years to implement more than 400 projects. The vision document has identified a
total of 8 thrust areas to enhance connectivity, including telecom
infrastructure, electronics manufacturing units, BPOs and cyber security,
besides promotion of digital innovations. The state-wise roadmaps for
implementing digital initiatives in the North East States have also been
developed. Through these, the Vision Document aims to empower the people of the
North Eastern region. As part of the initiative, Mr. Prasad also inaugurated
the first electronics manufacturing cluster in the northeastern region in
Guwahati on 10th August 2018.
94. India’s first all-woman Special Weapons and
Tactics (SWAT) team for anti-terrorist operations has been inducted in Delhi
Police. The 36 elite women commandos, hailing from north-eastern states, have
undergone rigorous training of around 15 months from specialists all across
India and abroad to handle urban situations as well as jungle operations. Their
expertise includes unarmed combat, ambush and counter-ambush and urban
operations like building interventions, vehicle intervention and VVIP security.
They will be deployed at Red Fort and India Gate during the 2018 Independence
Day celebrations. The SWAT team is the brainchild of Amulya Patnaik, the Delhi
Police Commissioner.
95. Axis Bank has become the India’s first bank to
introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-based transactions
through its micro ATM tablets. As per study conducted by the International
Centre for Biometric Research (ICBR), Iris scan technology is completely
contactless and provides up to 98.2% authentication success rate and offers an
edge over other prevalent biometric modes. The highly secure iris powered micro
ATM tablets are Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC)
certified and UIDAI compliant registered devices with completely integrated
iris sensors. The process of transaction through iris scan is very simple.
Customer need to select the desired service (funds transfer, cash withdrawal)
and feed-in their Aadhaar numbers in the micro ATM. Next, they will have to
choose ‘IRIS’ as the desired mode of authentication. Verification will be done
by scanning the eyes of the customers through the tablet’s iris sensor camera
in 3-5 seconds. The transaction will be completed after the biometric details
are verified from the UIDAI database.
96. The International Youth Day (IYD) is celebrated
every year on August 12 to recognize the efforts of the world’s youth in
enhancing global society. The day is the brainchild of the United Nations to
draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding the
youth of today. The 2018 theme is “Safe Spaces for Youth”. The UN has taken
this initiative to drive attention towards youth development and protection and
the areas that include education, employment, environment, HIV/AIDS, girls and
young women, and intergenerational relations.
97. Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (85), the
Trinidad-born Indian origin author, has passed away in London, England on
August 12, 2018. He was known for his critical commentary on colonialism,
idealism, religion and politics. Born in 1932 in Trinidad into an Indian Hindu
family, he wrote more than 30 books of fiction and non-fiction including ‘A
Bend in the River’, ‘A House for Mr Biswas’, The Writer and the World, Magic
Seeds, etc. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 for having united
perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see
the presence of suppressed histories.
98. The 9th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global
Summit-2019 is scheduled to be held between January 18 and 20 in Gandhinagar
with theme `Shaping of a New India’. The `Youth Connect Forums’ at the summit
will facilitate interactions between young achievers, successful businessmen
and traders and the youth. There would be discussions on success of sectors
like pharma, diamond, manufacturing and SEZ in the state.
99. The Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting will
offer 3-year Santoor women’s scholarship for higher education to girls from
economically weaker families in the three southern states of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana. Approx 900 girls from the 3 states will be given Santoor
scholarship, with Rs 24,000 for each of them per annum to do under-graduation..
The students can apply for the scholarship on “www.santoorscholarships.com”
till September 15 or in state-run colleges across the three states. The scholarship
is an attempt to empower women to change their life and the world. Enrollment
ratio of women pursuing higher education in the country is low and many give up
higher study due to lack of financial support. Santoor is the leading brand
name of Wipro’s toilet soap.
100.
The
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched an initiative
“RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil)” that will enable collection and conversion
of used cooking oil to biodiesel. Under this initiative, 64 companies at 101
locations have been identified to enable collection of used cooking oil.
According to FSSAI regulations, the maximum permissible limits for Total Polar
Compounds (TPC) have been set at 25%, beyond which the cooking oil is unsafe
for consumption. Beside this, FSSAI is also working in partnership with
Biodiesel Association of India and the food industry to ensure effective
compliance of used cooking oil regulations.
101.
Justice
Manjula Chellur has been appointed the new chairperson of Appellate Tribunal
for Electricity (ATE), which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Power.
Prior to this, she was Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. The tribunal has
been established by Central Government for those who are not satisfied with the
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) order or with a state. It has
the authority to overrule or amend that order, just like the Income-Tax
tribunal or the Central Administrative Tribunal. Justice Chellur was the first
woman Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. She also served as the Chief
Justice of Kerala High Court and the first female judge of the Karnataka High
Court.
102.
In
Hyderabad, India’s first genetic bank for wildlife conservation has been
inaugurated by Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan at
the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) in CSIR-Centre
for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to protect India’s biodiversity and
environment. It is dubbed as National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank (NWGRB),
which can store 17,000 vials worth of samples. Currently genetic material,
including DNA, cells and tissues besides semen and eggs of 23 wildlife species
are stored. This facility would also facilitate exchange of genetic material
between Indian zoos for maintaining genetic diversity and conservation
management made accessible to scientists and wildlife managers for implementing
conservation programmes. The Genetic Resource Bank (GRB) is the systematic
collection and preservation of tissues, sperm, eggs and embryos, genetic material
(DNA/RNA).
103.
The
World Elephant Day (WED) is observed every year on August 12 to bring the world
together to help protect & honour these gentle giants and to spread
awareness about the critical threats they are facing. The day is also observed
to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants and to
share knowledge & positive solutions for the better care and management of
captive and wild elephants. It’s also India’s National Heritage Animal. On the
occasion of 2018 WED, the festival Gaj Mahotsav has started in Delhi to
showcase 101 elephant installations, photographs by artists and performances by
Delhi-based rock bank Euphoria. The event is organised by Wildlife Trust of
India (WTI) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
(MoEFCC).
104.
The
Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 was held in Birgunj, Nepal on August 12 to
strengthen Indo-Nepal ties. On this occasion, the renowned writers from both
the countries were also felicitated. Approx 250 participants from India and
Nepal attended the two day festival. The event was organized by Nepal India
Co-operation Forum.
105.
Michelle
Bachelet, the former two-time President of Chile, has been officially appointed
new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a period of 4 years. She will
succeed Jordanian diplomat Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein in September 2018. The High
Commissioner is the principle official who speaks out for human rights across
the whole UN system. It strengthens human rights mechanisms, enhance equality
& fight discrimination in all its forms. It also strengthens accountability
& the rule of law and widens the democratic space & protecting the most
vulnerable from all forms of human rights abuse.
106.
The
Indian Army has launched the major rescue and relief operation “Operation
Sahyog” at Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Idukki after incessant rain and
landslides hit various northern districts of Kerala. The army constructed
temporary bridges for the evacuations of the stranded people from the isolated
villages. Apart from the Army, the Southern Naval Command of Indian Navy has
also launched ‘Operation Madad’ to assist the state administration and
undertake disaster relief operations due to unprecedented flooding in many
parts of Kerala following incessant rainfall and release of excess water from
Idukki and other dams. Naval helicopters are also deployed for ferrying divers,
power tools, axes and relief material to the flooded areas to augment ongoing
relief operations.
107.
On
August 12, the US space agency NASA has successfully launched the Parker Solar
Probe mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before. The rocket
carrying the Parker Solar Probe lifted off from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida in the US. It is the world’s first mission
to touch the Sun that will unlock the mysteries of star’s fiery outer
atmosphere and its effects on space weather during the 7-year long journey. The
car-sized spacecraft will travel directly into the Sun’s atmosphere, about four
million miles from its surface and more than 7 times closer than any spacecraft
has come before. The US $1.5 billion mission will perform the closest-ever
observations of a star when it travels through the Sun’s outer atmosphere,
called the corona. It is the first space craft to be named after a living
person – astrophysicist Eugene Parker (91), who first described solar wind in
1958.
108.
Somnath
Chatterjee (89), the former Lok Sabha Speaker & veteran leader, has passed
away in Kolkata, West Bengal on August 13, 2018. Mr. Chatterjee was the Speaker
in the first five-year term (2004-2009) of the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government and was elected to the Parliament’s Lower House ten times
since 1971. He joined Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 1968 and was
a member till his expulsion in 2008. He was expelled from CPI-M in July 2008
for refusing to resign as Speaker after CPI-M withdrew support from the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. After that, he was independent in the
last decade of his life.
109.
Viraj
Madappa (20) from Kolkata has become the youngest Indian golfer to claim the
Asian Tour title after lifting the 2018 TAKE Solutions Masters trophy in
Bengaluru on August 12. Beside this, Madappa has also become the first rookie
and youngest player to win on Tour this season. He takes home a winner’s prize
purse of US$63,000 and earned a one-year winner exemption on the region’s
premier Tour. The earlier record was held by Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won the
Indonesia Invitational, when he was 21 years and three months, while Shubhankar
Sharma won Joburg Open when he was 21 years and five months old.
110.
Justice
Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of the
Madras High Court (MHC) by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at a ceremony
in Raj Bhavan in Chennai on August 12. Justice Tahilramani is the third woman
chief justice of the MHC. She succeeded Justice Indira Banerjee, who has been
elevated to the Supreme Court. Apart from this, Justice Mukesh R Shah and
Justice Aniruddha Bose have been sworn in as the Chief Justice of Patna High
Court and Jharkhand High Court, respectively.
111.
The
World Organ Donation Day (WODD) is observed every year on August 13 to
encourage people to donate their precious organs. Every year, about 5 lakh
people die awaiting organ transplants due to non-availability of organs. There
is a wide gap between the number of transplants awaited and the organs
available. Organ donation is a process where an organ is transferred from the
body of the one who is giving the organ (donor) to the one who needs the organ
(recipient). The donor can be living or deceased. Organs that can be donated
are kidney, lungs, heart, eye, liver, pancreas, cornea, small intestine, skin
tissues, bone tissues, heart valves and veins.
112.
Ashish
Kumar Bhutani, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been
appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
(PMFBY) till May 9, 2020. The PMFBY is the government sponsored crop insurance
scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform. It was
launched by Prime Narendra Modi on 18th February 2016 in line with ‘One Nation
– One Scheme’ theme. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by
farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for annual
commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%. The purpose of PMFBY is to
provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of
failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests
& diseases. It also aims to encourage farmers to adopt innovative and
modern agricultural practices and to stabilize the income of farmers to ensure
their continuance in farming.
113.
Prasar
Bharati has tied up with Google and its video sharing platform YouTube to
telecast the 72nd Independence Day programme live online on 15th August 2018 to
increase digital presence. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has stated
that the live stream window will be seen on the homepage of Google itself so
that people do not have to look for a separate link to go to the Youtube
channel. In a first-of-its-kind digital drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
speech from Red Fort will be live streamed on both Google and YouTube. This
year, Doordarshan anchors will introduce the programme from Red Fort instead of
the studios. Doordarshan will also translate the PM’s speech in over 20
regional languages. The Independence Day coverage will open with a song
composed by Shankar Mahadevan. This service was first used by Google to
telecast the inauguration ceremony of US President Donald Trump in January
2017.
114.
Hakam
Singh Bhattal (64), the Asian Games gold medallist athlete & Dhyan Chand
awardee, has passed away in Sangrur, Punjab on August 14, 2018. He won gold at
the 1978 Bangkok Asiad in 20km race walk. In it, India ranked 6th with 11 gold
medals. He also won gold in the Asian Track and Field Meeting held at Tokyo in
1979. He had also served as Havaldar in the 6 Sikh regiment.
115.
The
Ease of Living Index 2018 has been launched by Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing & Urban Affairs, in New
Delhi on August 13. In it, Pune has been ranked first, followed by Navi Mumbai,
Greater Mumbai, Triputi, Chandigarh, Thane, Raipur, Indore, Vijaywada and
Bhopal. The survey was conducted on 111 cities in the country. The Index is
based on four parameters — governance, social institutions, economic and
physical infrastructure. Chennai has been ranked 14 and New Delhi 65. The Ease
of Living Index is a government initiative to assess cities’ ‘liveability’ with
regards to global and national benchmarks and encourage them towards urban
planning and management.
116.
Santhali
has become the first Indian tribal language to get a Wikipedia edition in its
native script. It is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austroasiatic
languages & presently has content of about 70,000 words. The Santhali
Wikipedia edition received approval from the Wikimedia Foundation’s Language
Committee on June 28, 2018 and finally, the Santali Wikipedia site was launched
on 2nd August 2018. According to the 2001 census, Santhali is written in Ol
Chiki script & is spoken by 6.4 million people in India only. Its speakers
live mostly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. The language is also
spoken in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. As per the Eighth Schedule to the
Constitution of India, Santali is a recognized regional language of India.
Wikipedia is available in nearly 300 languages globally as of August 2018.
117.
Rafael
Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has clinched the 2018 men’s
singles Rogers Cup tennis tournament at the Aviva Centre in Toronto, Canada. In
the final, he defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6–2, 7–6 to win his
4th Rogers Cup title. With this win, the 17-time Grand Slam champion Nadal
clinched his 80th ATP World Tour title and fifth victory of the year.
118.
The
2018 cleanliness survey for Indian Railways has been conducted by the Quality
Council of India (QCI) i.e. announced by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in New
Delhi on August 13. Among the A-1 category stations, Jodhpur has been declared
the cleanest railway station in the A1 category, followed by Jaipur and
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh). In A category stations, Marwar (Rajasthan) has been
placed at first position, followed by Phulera (Rajasthan) and Warangal
(Telangana). The North Western Railway (NWR), which is headquartered at Jaipur
, topped the list in the cleanest zone category, followed by South Central
Railway (SCR) and East Coast Railway (ECR). This is the 3rd report of Third
Party Audit-cum-Survey of ranking of cleanliness, which covers 407 stations
which includes 75 stations in A1 and 332 stations in A category stations. It is
an attempt of Indian Railways to increase cleanliness levels and improve
hygiene standards by identifying the laggards.
119.
Balramji
Das Tandon (91), the present Governor of Chhattisgarh, has passed away in
Raipur on August 14, 2018. Born on 1st November 1927, he started his political
career as corporator of Amritsar Municipal corporation in 1953. Tandon was one
of the founder members of the Jansangh which later became the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP). During his long political career, he has served on various posts,
including as deputy chief minister of Punjab. A six-time MLA, Mr. Tandon was
also the Punjab State BJP president for two years. He was also jailed in 1975
during the Emergency for 19 months.
120.
On
August 5, China has successfully tested its first cutting-edge waverider
hypersonic aircraft “Xingkong-2 (or Starry Sky-2)” which could carry nuclear
warheads and penetrate any current generation anti-missile defense systems.
This type of waverider aircraft uses shock waves generated by its own flight as
a lifting surface to enhance the lift-to-drag ratio to reach the hypersonic
regime of Mach 5 or even above. It flew independently, made large-angle turning
maneuvers, and landed in the targeted area as planned. It travels at least 4
times faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft was designed by the China
Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) in collaboration with the China
Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC). Presently, the United
States and Russia have been carrying out similar experiments.
121.
On
August 14, Film Actor Akshay Kumar has been appointed the brand ambassador for
Government of India (GoI)’s special road safety awareness campaign. As part of
the campaign “Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha”, three short films starring
Akshay as traffic police inspector has been released to generate public awareness
towards road safety. In it, he highlighted the importance of not breaking
traffic rules. It is a matter of serious concern that India accounts for 5 lakh
accidents annually, the highest in the world, in which 1.5 lakh people lose
their lives every year.
122.
NITI
Aayog has launched a mobility pitch competition “Pitch to MOVE” for budding
startups in the mobility field. The competition aims to identify and reward the
start-ups offering innovative solutions for shared, connected and environment
friendly mobility. It will provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique
opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury. The winners
of the event will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the
Global Mobility Summit 2018, which is scheduled to be held on September in New
Delhi. ‘Pitch to MOVE’ is organised by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Invest
India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as a part of a
series of engaging featured events in the run up to the main event.
123.
D
Bala Venkatesh Varma, a 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been
appointed India’s new ambassador to Russia, which is considered a high-profile
posting due to expanse of strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Currently, he is serving as Indian envoy in Spain. He will succeed Pankaj
Saran, who has been appointed deputy National Security Advisor (NSA). The Union
Government also appointed Partha Satpathy as next Ambassador of India to
Ukraine.
124.
Smitha
V. Crishna, a third-generation heir of the Godrej family, has been ranked first
in the Kotak Wealth Hurun-Leading Wealthy Women 2018 list with an estimated
wealth of Rs 37,570 crore. In 2014, she made news with the purchase of a
bungalow that belonged to Dr. Homi J. Bhabha for Rs 371 crore. Roshni Nadar,
CEO and executive director at HCL, ranked second in the list with an estimated
wealth of Rs 30,200 crore. Indu Jain, the chairperson of the Times Group,
ranked third in the list, followed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Kiran Nadar, Leena Gandhi
Tewari, Sangita Jindal and Jayshree Ulla. Industry wise, pharmaceuticals leads
with 22 women from that sector on the list. It is followed by Software &
Services with 12 individuals, and Food & Beverages with 8 individuals
featured in the list.
125.
Sunishka
Kartik from Bengaluru won the Community Award in the 2018 Junior NBA World
Basketball Championship, which concluded at the ESPN Wide World of Sports
Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, USA, on August 12. She had
top-scored with 17 points in the team’s impressive win over South America
Combined in a pool game. The award recognizes players who are committed to give
back to those in need. The tournament featured the best 13 and 14-year-old boys
and girls from around the world in 32 teams.
126.
The
Government of India (GoI) has released 470 million Nepali rupees grant for
Terai roads project in Nepal. The amount has been released to maintain fund
liquidity for the ongoing construction of 14 road packages under Postal Highway
Project. With this payment, 2.35 billion Nepali rupees have been released so
far out of total grant assistance of 8 billion Nepali rupees committed by the
Government of India for implementing 14 packages under Postal Highway Project.
Since 1950, the Indian Government has been supporting infrastructure
development of Nepal and has provided financial assistance for construction of
various Highways, Roads, Bridges, Airports, etc. as part of its multi-sectoral
and multi-dimensional India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme.
127.
Ramesh
Powar, the former Indian off-spinner, has been appointed the head coach of the
Indian Women’s National Cricket team on an interim basis till 30th November
2018. His term will include the tours to Sri Lanka in September, a bilateral
series in West Indies in October followed by the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 in
West Indies in November. This was informed by BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary.
As per the Supreme Court directive, only a Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) –
now functional – can appoint a fulltime coach on a long-term basis. Powar has
played 31 ODIs and two Tests from 2004 to 2007, picking 34 wickets with a best
of 54 in the 50-over format.
128.
The
Rajasthan government has decided to observe September as the “month of
nutrition” to create awareness among people living in the state. From
September, the students of Class 1 to 8 of government schools will be given
milk daily instead of thrice a week for which additional funds of Rs 203 crore
will be allocated. Besides, students in the age group of 3-6 years, adolescent
girls and pregnant women registered with Anganwadi centres will also be
provided milk thrice a week and the government will allocate Rs 100 crore for
this. In the month of nutrition, the awareness in rural as well as urban areas
will be created for nutrition. It must be noted that Prime Minister Narendra
Modi launched the National Nutrition Mission (NNM) and Pan India Expansion of
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) at a mega event held at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan
on the occasion 2018 International Women’s Day (IWD).
129.
Chemmanam
Chacko (92), the renowned Malayalam poet and Sahitya Akademi awardee, has
passed away in Kochi, Kerala on August 14, 2018. Known for his satirical works,
Chacko reacted to the contemporary socio-political issues of Kerala through his
poems. Chacko had won several awards, including those by the Kerala Sahitya
Akademi, Sanjayan Award, Kunjan Nambiar Kavitha puraskaram, P Smaraka
Puraskaram and Mahakavi Ulloor Award. His first published poem titled
‘Pravachanam’ was naturally inspired by the freedom struggle. His other works
include Vilamparam, Kanakaaksharangal, Nellu, Innu, etc.
130.
On
the occasion of 72nd Independence Day 2018, Telangana Chief Minister K
Chandrasekhar Rao launched three new schemes viz. free life insurance for
farmers (Rythu Bima), ‘Kanti Velugu’ eye care scheme and an economic support
programme for backward classes. In the ‘Kanti Velugu’ eye care scheme, every
citizen of Telangana will be entitle to have free eye care viz. free eye
screenings, medicines and spectacles and surgeries. It envisages covering 3.7
crore population. Under the economic support scheme for backward classes, the
government would provide a grant of Rs 50,000 to the beneficiaries to start
small businesses. Under the ‘Rythu Bima’ scheme, every farmer would get life
insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.
131.
The
Central government has constituted a coordination committee headed by the
Central Water Commission Chairman “Narendra Kumar” to coordinate the discharge
of floodwaters from inter-State projects involving Kerala and Tamil Nadu,
including Mullaperiyar and Aliyar. The Chairman of the CWC will monitor the
situation at Mullaperiyar dam in view of rising water level and continued heavy
inflow.
132.
The
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has launched a VOIP based service “WINGS”. In
WINGS, there is no SIM or cable wiring as is a VOIP service through an app. The
WINGS service offers unlimited free audio/video calling for one year. The
service can be activated with a one-time fee of Rs. 1,099 (Rs 1,297 with GST).
Calls can be made using any data connection such as wired broadband, Wi-Fi, 3G
or 4G network of any any operator. WINGS can also be used over Internet Leased
Lines. The facility can be used anywhere within the country and the app
automatically uses the existing address book in the phone. Unlike other
app-based VOIP services such as WhatsApp and Telegram calls, the WINGS app can
make calls to any phone number – free of cost. As there is no physical SIM, the
number can be used as the second number in phones without provision for second
SIM. It can even be a third number in dual-SIM phones.
133.
On
the occasion of 72nd Independence Day 2018, the special film festival on the
theme “Freedom Struggle and Freedom Fighters” has started in Mumbai on August
14. The festival was organized by Films Division of India (FDI), a film
production house belonging to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
(I&B). It was inaugurated by Rama Khandwala, nonagenarian freedom fighter
and Indian National Army (INA) veteran. During the festival, noteworthy
documentary films on freedom struggle and freedom fighters were screened. Some
of them are as follows: Jawan Tujhe Salam, Gandhi – A Universal Man, Netaji,
Sardar Patel – The Iron Man, etc.
134.
As
per survey conducted by UK-based online market research and data analytics firm
YouGov, the State Bank of India (SBI) has been ranked as the most patriotic
brand, followed by Tata Motors, Patanjali, Reliance Jio and BSNL. The survey,
which covered 152 brands across 11 categories, is based on data collected
online by YouGov Omnibus among 1,193 respondents in the country between 2
August and 8 August using its panel of an online representation of India. In
the financial sector, SBI lead the chart with 47% of the sector-share, followed
by LIC with 16%. In the auto sector, Tata Motors emerged as the most patriotic
brand, followed by Bharat Petroleum (BP) and Maruti Suzuki. In terms of food
brands, Amul grabbed the top slot with one-third Indians considering it,
followed by Patanjali. Nirma emerged as the most patriotic brand in the
homecare products category. In the beverages category, Tata Tea grabbed the top
rank with 35% respondents voting for it, followed by Taj Mahal with 18%.
135.
Mario
Abdo Benítez has been sworn in as the new President of Paraguay after defeating
his liberal rival in 2018 April elections. He succeeded Horacio Cartes. Mr Abdo
Benítez is the son of a close aide to ex-military dictator Alfredo Stroessner
& has faced criticism for defending the former leader’s record.
136.
Atal
Bihari Vajpayee (93), the veteran leader, prolific writer and former Prime
Minister of India, has passed away in New Delhi on 16th August 2018. Born on
25th December 1924 in Gwalior, he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957
and had a long parliamentary experience spanning over four decades. He was
elected to the Lok Sabha nine times and two times for the Rajya Sabha. Vajpayee
was the Minister of External Affairs (MEA) in the cabinet of Prime Minister
Morarji Desai. He served as the PM of India between 1996 and 2004 in three
non-consecutive terms viz. May 1996 (for 13 days), 1998–1999 (for 11 months)
and 1999–2004. He was awarded the India’s highest civilian honour ‘Bharat
Ratna’ in 2015. His birthday is celebrated as the Good Governance Day (GGD) by
the Central Government since 2014 to foster awareness among the people of
accountability in government.
137.
China
is hosting the 24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) 2018 in Beijing from
August 13 with theme “Learning To Be Human”. The purpose of the event is to
contribute to the development of professional relations between philosophers of
all countries, promote philosophical education & contribute to the impact
of philosophical knowledge on global problems. More than 6,000 philosophers and
academics from 121 countries and regions are attending the event, which will be
concluded on August 20. Attendees will share diverse philosophical thoughts and
take part in dialogues focusing on major issues confronting the development of
the global civilization, and challenges that mankind will face in the future.
The event is organized by the International Federation of Philosophical
Societies, and Peking University.
138.
Austrian
capital Vienna has been ranked as the world’s most liveable city in a list of
140 global cities at the 2018 Global Liveability Index, which was released by
the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Melbourne has secured 2nd position
followed by Osaka, Calgary and Sydney. Delhi (112) and Mumbai (117) are only
two Indian cities that are included in the EIU’s annual index. The Syrian
capital ‘Damascus’ was ranked the least liveable city in the list of 140
cities, followed by Dhaka, Lagos and Karachi. The index assigns cities scores
on five broad parameters — stability, healthcare, culture/environment,
education, and infrastructure using 30 indicators. The EIU is part of UK
magazine The Economist and provides forecasting and advisory services through
research and analysis.
139.
Nihal
Sarin (14) from Kerala has become the 53rd Grandmaster of India and the 12th
youngest grandmaster in chess history after attaining his third and final
GM-norm in the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018. He tallied 5.5/9 with a rating
performance of 2626 to secure his third GM norm.
140.
Ajit
Laxman Wadekar (77), the former Indian cricket captain, has passed away in Mumbai,
Maharashtra on August 15, 2018. He is best remembered for being the captain of
the Indian team which won Test series in England and the West Indies for the
first time, in 1971. Wadekar scored 2,113 runs in his Test career, including
one hundred, and was also the country’s first ODI captain. Wadekar is the only
cricketer apart from Lala Amarnath and Chandu Borde to have served as captain,
coach/manager and selector in Indian cricket. He was bestowed the Arjuna Award
in 1967 and India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padmashri, in 1972.
141.
The
10-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera has started in Kandy, Sri
Lanka on August 17 with a grand procession. The procession set off from the
biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious
time. The Esala Perahera is one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist
festivals in Sri Lanka, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers
and lavishly decorated elephants. This is held in Esala (July or August) which
is the month that is believed to commemorate the first teaching given by the
Buddha after he attained enlightenment. The purpose of the procession is to
beseech the blessings of the Gods to obtain rain for the cultivation of crops
and to enrich the lands of the kingdom. This ritual is performed by carrying
the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha through the streets and is considered as
one of the most beautiful pageants in Asia. The festival ends with the
traditional diya-kepeema ritual, a water cutting ceremony which is held at the
Mahaweli River at Getambe, Kandy.
142.
On
August 17, the 2018 International Conference on Recent Advances in Food
Processing Technology (iCRAFPT) has started at Indian Institute of Food
Processing Technology (IIFPT), Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu with theme “Doubling
farmers’ income through food processing”. The 3-day conference is the valuable
and important platform for inspiring international and interdisciplinary
exchange at the forefront of food research. In it, internationally renowned
speakers will share their research experiences in the areas of advances in food
engineering and its industrial applications, food product development, food
biotechnology, nano foods. The IIFPT is the premier national Institute working
under the administrative control of Ministry of Food Processing Industries
(MoFPI) and its headquarters is located in Thanjavur.
143.
Teen
cyclist Esow Alben (17) has scripted history by winning the India’s first
junior cycling World Cup medal — a silver at the men’s keirin event in the UCI
Junior Track Cycling World 2018. He put enormous pressure on Czech Republic’s
Jakub Stastny in the final sprint before settling for the silver medal. Esow
finished just 0.017 seconds behind gold medallist Stastny in the thrilling
photo-finish of a race. Alben, who hails from Andaman & Nicobar Islands,
trains in Delhi at the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s National Cycling
Academy (NCA). Esow is now the top-ranked junior cyclist for the sprint event
and is No. 3 for keirin, where the cyclists sprint for victory on a track
following a controlled start.
144.
The
IIT Kharagpur has decided to set up a Re-Water Research Center to replenish and
rejuvenate water resources. It will be seed-funded by two alumni members –
Aneesh Reddy & Aditya Choubey. The purpose of the ‘Aditya Choubey Center
for Re-Water Research’ is to tackle the challenge of resolving two burning
issues faced by urban India – sewage disposal and access to clean potable
water. The institute will set up an on-campus plant which will convert 1.35 million
litre of sewage water from the hostels to 1.2 million litre of potable water,
on a daily basis. The project is being developed to attract potential
entrepreneurs and government agencies to take up sewage treatment at a large
scale and with a business model for banks to gain confidence in funding such
businesses. The pilot plant is expected to be ready by March 2019.
145.
KS
Srinivas, a 1997 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, has been appointed the
new Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Prior to
this post, he served as Joint Secretary in Department of Agriculture
Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare. The MPEDA was constituted in 1972 under the
MPEDA Act 1972 and is headquartered at Kochi. It is given the mandate to
promote the marine products industry with special reference to exports from the
country. It is also empowered to carry out inspection of marine products, its
raw material, fixing standards, specifications and training as well as take all
necessary steps for marketing the seafood overseas.
146.
Ibrahim
Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as the new President of Mali for a five-year
term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot. He picked up 67.17% of the
vote against 32.83% for opposition challenger and former finance minister
Soumaila Cisse. Keita will take office on September and his immediate
challenges include strengthening a 2015 peace accord between the government,
its allies, and former Tuareg rebels. Mali is a landlocked nation home to at
least 20 ethnic groups where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day.
147.
Aretha
Franklin (76), the legendary US singer and pianist, has passed away in
Michigan, U.S on August 16, 2018. The “Queen of Soul” was born in Memphis,
Tennessee, and made her debut in 1961. Her style on such hits as “Respect” and
“Natural Woman” attracted fans all over the world. She received the Grammy
Award 18 times and was the first female vocalist to be inducted into the Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin performed at the inaugurations of three
Presidents of the United States — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
148.
Rajabhau
Godse (57), the former Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) from Nashik , has
passed away in Nasik, Maharashtra on August 17, 2018. He was elected to the Lok
Sabha from Nashik constituency in 1996. He had also been the city and district
unit chief of the Sena after starting his political career as Sarpanch of
village Sansari in the district.
149.
The
11th World Hindi Conference 2018 (WHC) has started in Port Louis, the capital
of Mauritius, with theme “Hindi World and Indian Culture” on August 18. It was
organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI)
in association with the Government of Mauritius. More than 2000 delegates from
India and various countries of the world will deliberate on 8 subtopics on 2018
theme during the 3-day conference. The aim of the Conference is to expand the
reach of the Hindi language at a global level. The WHC was started in 1975 to
make the Hindi language a medium of service and knowledge and enable it to move
forward with the time. Since then, Hindi has made remarkable progress and it
has become one of the prominent languages of the world.
150.
India
Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised down India’s GDP growth to 7.2% for
FY19 from 7.4% earlier in its latest report titled ‘Mid-year FY19 Outlook’. The
key reason for this is the upward revision in the estimation of inflation for
2018-19 due to increasing crude oil prices and the government’s decision to fix
the minimum support prices of all kharif crops at 1.5 times the production
cost. On rupee, the rating agency stated that in 2018, rupee has already
depreciated 7.7% till July in response to elevated global turbulence, worsening
of current account, rising inflation and concerns related to fiscal deficit. It
expects the aggregate fiscal deficit of the states to moderate to 2.8% of GDP.
Ind-Ra is one of the India’s most respected credit rating agency that provides
ratings, research and rigorous analytics of market in India. The headquarters
of Ind-Ra is located in Mumbai and is belong to Fitch group.
151.
For
the first time, the International team of scientists including 18 from India
cracked the genetic code of wheat, the world’s most widely cultivated crop. The
information generated will help to identify genes controlling complex agronomic
traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases and pests, as well
as tolerance to drought, heat, water logging and salinity. The research, which
is published in Journal ‘Science’, stated that the DNA sequence of bread wheat
has been ordered and it represents the highest quality genome sequence
generated to date. The reference genome covers 94% (14.5 Gb) of the entire
wheat genome. The bread wheat has a complex hexaploid genome which is 40 times
larger than that of the rice genome and 5 times larger than the human genome.
The availability of high quality reference genome would accelerate the breeding
of climate-resilient wheat varieties to feed the ever-increasing world
population and help address global food security in the decades to come.
152.
The
“Panini Language Laboratory” has been inaugurated by Sushma Swaraj, the Union
Minister of External Affairs (MEA), during the 11th World Hindi Conference
(WHC) 2018 at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius on
August 19. The Lab has been gifted by the Government of India (GoI) and it will
help MGI in teaching of all Indian languages in Mauritius. The eminent scholars
have stressed upon on refinement of the Hindi language by making it simple and
interesting. The delegates from across the globe underlined the need of
developing software for Hindi which can be available to common people on a
reasonable price. The basic objective of 3-day conference is to connect Hindi
language with culture to spread and popularise it in the entire world.
153.
On
August 19, Wrestler Bajrang Punia clinched India’s first gold medal in the 18th
Asian Games after defeating Takatani Daichi of Japan in the men’s 65 kg
freestyle title bout in Jakarta, Indonesia. Punia, who hails from Haryana, had
won three consecutive gold medals — 2018 CWG (Gold Coast), Tbilisi Grand Prix
(Georgia) and Yasar Dogu International (Istanbul) — ahead of the 2018 Asian
Games. Earlier, Indian shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar won the bronze
medal in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event at the 2018 Asian Games. It was
India’s first medal in the ongoing event.
154.
Kofi
Annan (80), the former UN secretary-general and a Ghanaian diplomat, has passed
away in Switzerland on August 18, 2018. He served two terms as UN chief from
1997 to 2006. Mr Annan was the first black African to become UN
secretary-general. He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading
efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2001 for helping to revitalize the international body, during a
period that coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic. In September
2016, Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya
crisis.
155.
The
deadly agricultural insect-pest “Fall Armyworm (FAW)” has been recently spotted
at a few places in the districts of Karimnagar, Kamareddy, Sangareddy, Medak
and Gadwal in Telangana. It is known to attack and destroy several varieties of
crops, but it prefers maize and sorghum because of the sweetness in their
leaves. The Fall Armyworm (or Spodoptera frugiperda) is a species in the order
of Lepidoptera and is the larval life stage of a fall armyworm moth. In its
larva stage, it can cause significant damage to crops, if not well managed. The
lifespan of the pest is 30 to 60 days and each generation can migrate to a
distance of more than 400 km. It is considered deadly as it has caused massive
agricultural losses in several countries in Africa. The worm was first found in
Karnataka in the country and later spread to Tamil Nadu.
156. The
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to form a
3-member committee to look into the draft of Food Safety and Standards
(Labelling and Display) Regulations 2018. The expert committee will be led by B
Sesikeran, former director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and
comprise current NIN director Hemalatha and AIIMS’ Nikhil Tandon. In April,
food safety regulator FSSAI had come out with the above draft that propose
mandatory red colour-coded labels on packaged food products which are high in
fat, sugar and salt contents. However, the Union Health Ministry has put on
hold the draft after industry stakeholders expressed concerns referring to an
adverse impact on the evolving packaged food industry. Hence, FSSAI has decided
to set up committee to study in detail the concerns of the industry and make
recommendations.
157. The
World Photography Day (WPD) is observed every year on August 19 to encourage
photographers across the planet to share a single photo with the world with an
aim – to share their world with the world. The idea behind the day is inspiring
positive change in the world, by sharing the stories of the photographers from
all around the world through their photographs. The date of August 19 was
chosen to commemorate the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic
process developed by Frenchmen Louis Daguerre and Joseph Nicephore Niepce in
1837. On 9th January 1839, the French Academy of Sciences announced the
Daguerreotype process. On August 19 that same year, the French government
purchased the patent and announced the invention as a free gift to the world.
This event was an important step in the development of modern-day photography.
158.
The
World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is held every year on August 19 to pay tribute to
aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to rally support
for people affected by crises around the world. The day recognizes humanitarian
personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes.
The campaign theme of 2018 WHD is #NotATarget. The day was designated by the UN
General Assembly (UNGA) to commemorate the 19th August 2003 bombing of the
United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.
159. The
Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (HRD) has proposed to set up a
5-member committee to suggest changes to the JEE (Advanced) examination in the
wake of an inadequate number of candidates qualifying the entrance test this
year. The aim of the committee, which will be headed by IIT-Madras director “Bhaskar
Ramamurthy”, is to develop a robust and scientifically designed entrance exam
system to test the potential of the candidates as well as to reduce their
dependence on coaching institutes. The proposal is on the agenda of the IIT
Council, which is considered to be the top decision-making body of all the
IITs. Additionally, the IIT-Council is expected to discuss a suggestion made by
one of the 23 premier engineering schools that the students who qualify JEE
(Advanced) should be allocated an institute and not the engineering branch.
According to the suggestion, the student should be allocated an engineering
branch only in the second year, based on the aptitude exhibited in the first
year. The IIT Council is scheduled to meet on August 21, 2018.
160.
On
16 August, the Amnesty International India (AII) has launched a new campaign
“Our Safety, Our Rights” to create awareness among children to help them
understand and identify sexual abuse. The campaign seeks to empower children to
speak up and report sexual abuse without fear. The AII has collaborated with
Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), People’s Action for Rural Awakening (PARA),
Institute of Social Education (ISE) to engage with children in 400 schools,
across four Indian states – Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka. Through this campaign, an estimated 50,000 students, parents,
teachers and other key stakeholders will be sensitized on the issue of child
sexual abuse.The campaign will culminate on 2018 International Day of the Girl
Child.
161.
Indian
Women National Football team has clinched the 2nd edition of South Asian
Football Federation (SAFF) Under-15 Women’s Championship 2018 after defeating
Bangladesh in the final in Thimpu, Bhutan on August 18. A solitary second-half
strike by Sunita Munda helped the Indian U-15 team clinch the title. The SAFF
is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of
the larger Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
162.
Vinesh
Phogat has created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win a
gold medal at the Asian Games. in the final match in freestyle 50 kg category,
she defeated Japan’s Yuki Irie in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 20, 2018. The
gold also enabled Vinesh to achieve another feat as she became the only woman
wrestler to win two medals in back-to-back Asian Games. Earlier, Vinesh had won
a bronze medal in the 48kg category at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. Vinesh
also won back-to-back gold medals in Glasgow and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
this year. Beside her, Wrestler Bajrang Punia clinched India’s first gold medal
at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 after defeating Takatani Daichi of Japan in the
men’s 65 kg freestyle title bout.
163.
Former
Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag has been awarded the United States
(US) ‘Legion of Merit (Degree of commander)’ on August 17, 2018, at Pentagon,
Washington DC. The award was given to Singh for exceptionally meritorious
service as Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) from August 2014 to December 2016. With
this, he became the 2nd Indian military officer to get this award after General
Rajendrasinghji Jadeja in 1946. The Legion of Merit is awarded in four degrees
– Degree of Chief Commander, Degree of commander, Degree of the officer, Degree
of Legionnarie.
164.
On
August 20, Indian Shooter Deepak Kumar claimed Silver in the Men’s 10-metre Air
Rifle event with a score of 247.7 points at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 in
Indonesia. In the Men’s Trap, Lakshay clinched the silver medal with an
impressive 43 from 50 shots. Earlier, Wrestler Bajrang Punia had given India
its first Gold of the Games in the 65 kg division.
165.
Uri
Avnery (94), a trailblazing Israeli journalist & peace activist and one of
the first to openly advocate for a Palestinian state, has passed away in Tel
Aviv, Israel on August 20, 2018. He was famous for crossing the lines during
the Siege of Beirut to meet Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat on 3 July 1982. It
was first time that the Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli. Avnery was
the author of several books about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including
1948: A Soldier’s Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem (2008); Israel’s Vicious
Circle (2008); and My Friend, the Enemy (1986).
166.
SK
Arora, the Delhi government’s additional director of health, has been honoured
with the prestigious World Health Organization (WHO) World No Tobacco Day 2017
Award for his extraordinary contribution towards tobacco control. He was
presented the award by Henk Bekedam, WHO India country head in New Delhi, on
August 16, 2018. It is awarded every year by WHO to individuals or
organizations alike in each of six WHO regions for their accomplishments in the
area of tobacco control. The National Health Policy 2017 of the Government of
India (GoI) has set targets of relative reduction in tobacco prevalence by 15%
by 2020 and 30% by 2025. Delhi has already achieved these targets before 2017.
The Delhi government’s health department has been fighting against direct
advertisement of brand promotion of tobacco and surrogate advertisement of
tobaccos in the name of pan masala and other eatables such as tea, ilaichi
(cardamom) for the past 4 years. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2
(GATS 2, 2016-17), the prevalence of tobacco use has reduced by 27% in Delhi as
compared to 17% for the rest of India average.
167.
On
August 19, India has successfully test-fired the indigenously developed
helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘HELINA’ from an Army
helicopter ‘Rudra’ in Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. The HELINA weapon system
tested for its full range was released smoothly from the launch platform. The
missile hit the target with high precision. The missile is guided by an
Infrared Imaging Seeker (IIR) operating in the Lock-on-Before-Launch mode. It
is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world. It is the
helicopter-launched version of NAG and has a hit range of 7-8 km. The
production and induction of the missile are likely to happen in 2019. Beside
this, the indigenously designed and developed guided bombs Smart Anti Airfield
Weapon (SAAW) also successfully flight tested from IAF aircraft at Chandan
range in Jaisalmer. The SAAW is the combined effort of the DRDO, IAF and HAL.
This weapon is capable of destroying a variety of ground targets using
precision navigation.
168.
The
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has become the first Public Sector Unit
(PSU) to make a transaction on the “TReDS platform”. The transaction was
financed by Bank of Baroda (BoB) and since stands settled. The TReDS platform
is an online electronic institutional mechanism for facilitating the financing
of trade receivables of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) through
multiple financiers. The acronym ‘TReDS’ stands for Trade Receivables
Discounting System. In October 2017, the central government mandated all major
PSUs to join TReDS platform to facilitate payments to MSME vendors. RXIL
(Receivables Exchange of India), which is India’s first TReDS platform, is
promoted by the National Stock Exchange, Small Industries Development Bank of
India, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank.
169. The
World Mosquito Day (WMD) is observed every year on August 20 to raise awareness
regarding what all causes malaria and ways to prevent it. The day also observed
to mark British doctor Sir Ronald Ross’ 1897 landmark discovery that female
mosquitoes “Anopheles” transmit malaria to humans. This discovery laid
foundations for scientists across the world to better understand the deadly
role of mosquitoes in disease transmission and come up with effective
innovative interventions. Some of the best ways to prevent malaria include
insecticide treated mosquito nets, indoor spraying with insecticides and
anti-malarial drugs. Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria.
170.
Shooter
Saurabh Chaudhary (16) has clinched gold in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event at
the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in Indonesia on August 21. It is India’s first
shooting gold in the ongoing event. While another Indian shooter, Abhishek
Verma won bronze in the same event. India have won five medals in shooting at the
Games so far.
171.
On
August 21, Indian Shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a Silver in the men’s
50-metres Rifle 3 Positions event at the 18th Asian Games in Palembang on
August 21, 2018. Rajput, who is already an Arjuna Awardee, has been making
India proud since the 2006 Asian Games. His consistency and commitment are
admirable.
172.
Satya
Pal Malik has been appointed the new Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. He will
replace N N Vohra. Prior to this post, Malik was the Governor of Bihar. On 21
August, other governors of states appointed were Lal Ji Tandon for Bihar, Ganga
Prasad for Sikkim, Tathagata Roy for Meghalaya and Kaptan Singh Solanki for
Tripura. Satyadev Narayan Arya was appointed as the Governor of Haryana while
Baby Rani Maurya was appointed as the Governor of Uttarakhand.
173.
On
August 21, Indian Wrestler Divya Kakran clinched bronze in the 68 Kg Freestyle
wrestling event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. In the final, Kakran defeated
her Chinese Taipei opponent Chen Wenling by technical superiority with the final
score line reading 10-0. Her medal is a testament to her relentless hard work
& determination. This is India’s third medal in wrestling after Bajrang
Punia and Vinesh Phogat claimed gold in their respective categories.
174.
Using
data from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, that was launched by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2008, NASA Scientists have confirmed the
presence of frozen water deposits in the darkest and coldest parts of the
Moon’s polar regions. Scientists used data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper
(M3) instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft to identify three specific
signatures that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the
Moon. According to the study published in the journal PNAS, the ice deposits are
patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. The study said with enough
ice sitting at the surface within the top few millimetres water would possibly
be accessible as a resource for future expeditions to explore and even stay on
the Moon. Most of the newfound water ice lies in the shadows of craters near
the poles, where the warmest temperatures never reach above minus 156 degrees
Celsius. Due to the very small tilt of the Moon’s rotation axis, sunlight never
reaches these regions.
175.
On
August 22, Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat has become the first-ever Indian woman
to win an individual shooting medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. She bagged
gold in the 25m pistol final event at the Jakabaring Shooting Range in
Palembang, after prevailing in a double shoot-off at the 2018 Jakarta Asian
Games. Earlier, in shooting, Saurabh Chaudhary won gold in the Men’s 10m Air
Pistol event. In wrestling, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat clinched gold in
Men’s freestyle 65 kg and Women’s freestyle 50 kg, respectively. India is
currently placed 7th in the tally with 12 medals, comprising 4 Gold, 3 Silver
and 5 Bronze.
176.
The
2018 International Buddhist Conclave (IBC) will be inaugurated by President Ram
Nath Kovind with theme “Buddha Path – The Living Heritage” in New Delhi on
August 23. The aim of the conclave is to showcase Buddhist Heritage in India
and boost tourism. It is being organized by the Ministry of Tourism in
collaboration with the State Governments of Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh at New Delhi and Ajanta (Maharashtra), followed by site visits to
Rajgir, Nalanda and Bodhgaya (Bihar) and Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh). The
Ministerial level delegation from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka
will participate in the conclave along with delegates from the 29 countries
participating in the International Buddhist Conclave including US, UK, Russia,
Japan, Germany and France. Japan would be the partner Country for the 2018
Buddhist conclave.
177.
Gurudas
Kamat (63), the senior Congress leader and former Union minister, has passed
away in New Delhi on August 22, 2018. He was 5-time Member of Parliament (MP)
from Mumbai and was also the president of the NSUI from 1976 to 1980. He served
as Union minister of state for home affairs with the additional charge of communications
and information technology from 2009 to 2011. In July 2011, he resigned as the
minister. He was also a former president of the Mumbai Regional Congress
Committee.
178.
On
August 21, the Chhattisgarh government has decided to re-name state’s new
capital city of Naya Raipur as “Atal Nagar” in memory of late Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It has also been decided to develop an “Atal Memorial” in
an area of five acres at state’s new capital. Besides, many institutions,
including Bilaspur University and Rajnandgaon Medical College, will be named
after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The state government has also
decided to name a battalion of state police force as “Pokharan battalion”. The
chief minister said it has also been decided to install a statue of former
Prime Minister in the state capital and district headquarters of all the 27
districts. The state capital Naya Raipur, a most modern smart city, has been
developed at a cost of more than Rs 10,000 crore.
179.
The
first-ever International Day of Remembrance and tribute to the Victims of
Terrorism is observed by United Nations on 21st August 2018 to honour the
innocent victims of terror attacks around the world, who will forever remain in
our hearts. As per resolution 72/165 (2017), the international day will serve
as a reminder to stop and listen to the victims and survivors of terrorism, to
raise up their voices and recognize the impact terrorism has on their lives.
180.
The
book “281 and Beyond” is the autobiography of veteran cricketer VVS Laxman,
which will be launched by Westland Sport in November 2018. The title has been
borrowed from the Hyderabad stylist’s fabulous series-turning innings of 281
against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001. His partnership along with Rahul
Dravid in that match is one of the best batting partnerships in cricket
history. He was known for his patience and wrist work and scored many memorable
centuries during his playing days. Laxman played 134 Tests, amassing 8,781 runs
at an average of 45.97. He scored 17 centuries and 56 half centuries. He also
played in 86 ODIs for an aggregate of 2338 and average of 30.76 in the shorter
format.
181.
Jhulan
Nishit Goswami, the veteran Indian women’s team pacer, has announced her
retirement from International T20 cricket. She represented India in 68 T20Is
picking up 56 wickets which included a 5-wicket haul against Australia in 2012.
Goswami will only play One Day International (ODIs) (as India don’t play Test
cricket), in which format she is the world’s highest wicket-taker with 200
scalps from 169 games. She hails from a non-descript town of Chakdah in West
Bengal’s Nadia district.
182.
Prof.
Chander Mohan, an Indian-American scientist, has identified as many as 50
protein biomarkers that can non-invasively detect Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(IBD) – a gut disorder that leads to diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, and weight
loss. Mohan, who is professor at University of Houston in the US, received a $
347,490 grant from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. Along with
IBD expert Subra Kugathasan, a gastroenterologist at Emory University in the
US, Mohan is examining stool protein biomarkers that indicate the disease. IBD
occurs when the body’s immune system fights its intestinal cells. Two of the
most common types are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which
cause inflammation in the digestive tract.
183.
Kuldip
Nayar (95), the Veteran journalist, author and human rights activist, has
passed away in New Delhi on August 23, 2018. Nayar, a former editor of the
Indian Express, was also the author of 15 books including “Without Fear: The
Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh”, “India after Nehru” and “Emergency Retold”. In
his autobiography ‘Beyond The Lines’, he wrote about his interview with
Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, during which the latter
revealed that Pakistan had a nuclear device well before it was thought to have
had it. During Emergency, he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal
Security Act for leading a protest against the excesses of the administration.
In 2015, he was honoured with ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his contribution
to journalism at the 8th edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence awards. Nayar
also served as High Commissioner of India to the UK in 1990 and as a member of
the Rajya Sabha.
184.
On
August 22, the 9th edition of Mountain Echoes Literature Festival 2018 has
started in Thimphu, Bhutan to serve as a collaborative platform for knowledge
sharing, leading to global cultural potpourri of ideas. The 4-day Literature
Festival began with a tribute to former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, who was remembered at the annual event for his animated style of
poetry recitations. It will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between
India and Bhutan. The 2018 edition will focus on subjects such as Spirituality
and Philosophy, Performing Arts, Environmental Conservation, Food, as well as
Film and Theatre, among others. The literary festival of Bhutan was established
under the patronage of Her Majesty the Royal Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo
Wangchuck and is known for bringing together literary stalwarts from across the
world in the lap of the Himalayas.
185.
Indian
shooter Shardul Vihan (15) from Uttar Pradesh clinched silver in the men’s
double trap shooting event at the Jakabaring shooting range in the 18th Asian
Games 2018 on August 23. He shot 73 to claim the silver medal, while Korea’s
Shin Hyunwoo clinched gold with a score of 74. Qatar’s Al Marri Hamad Ali
bagged the bronze after shooting 53 at the Jakabaring shooting range. Vihan, who
is coached by former Asian Championship double gold medallist Anwer Sultan, had
grabbed four gold medals at Shotgun Nationals Championship in 2017.
186.
The
4th summit of Heads of State/Government of Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will be held at
Kathmandu in Nepal on August 30 and 31. All member states of BIMSTEC will
participate in the Summit. During the two-day Summit, leaders of member states
will review progressachieved so far in the areas of cooperation and provide
guidance to the futurework of the BIMSTEC. Prior to the Summit, the 19th Senior
Officials’ Meeting (SOM) and the 16th Ministerial Meeting of BIMSTEC will be
held on August 28 and 29 in Kathmandu. BIMSTEC is a regional economic bloc comprising
7 member states lyingin the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal
constituting a contiguous regional unity. The group was formed in 1997 and it
brings together Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and
Thailand. Nepal is the current chair of BIMSTEC.
187.
Iran
has launched its first state-of-the-art domestic fighter jet “Kowsar” at a
defense show in Tehran on August 23, 2018. The jet is a fourth-generation
fighter, with advanced avionics and multi-purpose radar. It is designed and
manufactured by domestic military experts. It is dual-cockpit, single engine
jet with single tail fin. It resembles US-made F-5F Tiger (first flew in 1974),
which is variant of 1950s-era US Northrop F-5 fighter that is a long-time
mainstay of Iranian Air Force. It can be used for short aerial support missions
and is equipped with systems that promote precision targeting. The acronym
“Kowsar” refers river in paradise in Islam and also the title of a chapter in
the Koran.
188.
The
Maharashtra government has appointed actor Raveena Tandon as the brand
ambassador of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) to spread environmental
awareness among citizens. The SGNP is spread over 103 Sq. Km. and is wedged
between the suburbs of Mumbai and Thane. It is home to more than 274 species of
birds, 35 species of mammals, 78 species of reptiles and amphibians, 170
species of butterflies and over a staggering 1,300 species of plants. The park
is notable as one of the major national parks existing within a metropolis
limit and is one of the most visited parks in the world. It was formerly known
as Borivali National Park and was renamed SGNP in 1996, after Sanjay Gandhi,
the son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
189.
In
Rajasthan, India’s largest Startup incubation and acceleration- Bhamashah
Techno Hub – was inaugurated by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur On
August 23, 2018. The purpose of the techno hub is to create an ecosystem for
promoting state’s youth for entrepreneurship. The hub would be able to
accommodate over 700 startup ventures with one lakh square feet incubation
space and also help them to get connected with potential investors. In it, free
space, easier funding avenues and mentorship will also be provided to startup.
190.
Prof
Appa Rao Podile, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), has
been selected for the prestigious J C Bose Fellowship-2018 of Department of
Science and Technology (DoST) by Government of India (GoI). The fellowship is
given in recognition of his performance in the area of plant-microbe
interactions in general and induced resistance in plants in particular. He has
made significant contributions in three closely related areas of research that
revolve around the recognition of pathogen-derived molecules by plants that
activate defence response and contribute to improved health/yield. The J C Bose
Fellow will receive a fellowship amount of Rs 25,000 per month and a research
grant of Rs 15 lakh per annum and is provided initially for a period of 5
years. The fellowship can be extended beyond five years based on performance
during the first five year tenure.
191.
The
Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) has launched an exclusive
incubator “Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI)” to boost chip design. It is a
first of its kind in India that will focus on creating an ecosystem for
start-ups in chip design. The purpose of FabCI is to incubate at least 50
‘Make-in-India’ chip design companies that can compete globally and generate
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). It will provide a bouquet of offerings
including free software tools with leading technology partners in Electronic
Design Automation (EDA), a characterization facility for testing chips, and
equipment for performing DC and RF characterization. FabCI is funded by MeitY,
with technology partners Cadence Design Systems and Mentor Graphics both are
leading providers of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, hardware and
IP. The Incubator also offers virtual support to non-Hyderabad start-ups which
can join FabCI and leverage the offerings and participate remotely.
192.
Indian
Tennis player, Ankita Raina has won a bronze after losing a hard fought women’s
singles semifinal 4-6, 6-7 in straight sets against Shuai Zhang of China at the
2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 23. With this, she became the 2nd Indian
female tennis player after Sania Mirza to win a medal in singles’ competition
at the Asian Games. For India, Mirza won silver in Doha in 2006 and a bronze in
Guangzhou 2010. Ankita from Maharashtra is currently India’s number one women’s
singles.
193.
On
August 23, the 2018 India Banking Conclave (IBC) was held in New Delhi to
address issues of India’s Banking Sector. It was organized by Centre for
Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the government Think Tank NITI Aayog. IBC
2018 is an important platform for varied stakeholders connected to India’s
banking and financial sectors. The 2-day thought awareness programme witnessed
panel discussions on NPAs, development of banks with changing times,
privatization versus merger and the future of banking, among other issues.
194.
The
9-member Steering Committee, headed by Stanford University Prof. AJ Paulraj,
has recently submitted its 5G high level forum report titled ‘Making India 5G
Ready’ to Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. The report suggested the
Central government should announce its 5G policy by 31st December 2018, besides
setting up a standing committee to advise on building the infrastructure for
spectrum technology. The key recommendations and action plan for the report
include spectrum policy; regulatory policy; education and awareness promotion;
application and use case labs; participation in international standards;
development of application layer standards; and major 5G trials. The committee
expected the 5G commercial roll out in India by 2020.
195.
The
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has lifted ban on retail sale of life
saving drug ‘Oxytocin’ with effect from 1st September 2018, which was
restricted to retail sale from July 2018. Though, the Centre has imposed strict
regulations on its sales and retained the monopoly of Karnataka Antibiotics
& Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL) for manufacturing oxytocin. As per new rules,
Oxytocin will be moved from schedule A to Schedule H1 that means retailer has
to maintain a separate register giving the name and address of the prescriber,
the patient, the drug and the quantity supplied. These records have to be
maintained for 3 years and be available for inspection. Oxytocin is an
essential drug used to prevent and treat bleeding after child birth. But, its
misuse is widespread in the dairy industry, where livestock are injected with
oxytocin to make them release milk at a time convenient to farmers. The hormone
is also used to increase the size of vegetables and fruits such as pumpkins,
watermelons, brinjals, gourds and cucumbers.
196.
The
European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a wind- sensing satellite “Aeolus”
into orbit from French Guyana to track global winds. The satellite will be
placed at an altitude of 320 Km above the Earth. The launch is part of the
Copernicus project, a joint effort by the European Union and the European Space
Agency (ESA) to track environmental damage and assist disaster relief
operations. The “Aeolus” satellite – named after the keeper of the winds in
Greek mythology – is designed to enable improved weather forecasting and aid
disaster relief operations. It is equipped with a Doppler wind LIDAR – an
advanced laser system designed to measure global wind patterns from space.
Aeolus, which is built by Airbus, will be the first satellite equipped to
perform global wind-component-profile observation on a daily basis in near
real-time.
197.
Vijay
Chavan (63), the veteran Marathi actor who was known for his comic roles, has
passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on August 24, 2018. The actor, who featured
in more than 350 films, is best remembered for his comic roles in Marathi films
such as ‘Jatra’, ‘Zapatlela’, ‘Pachadlele’, ‘Mumbaicha Dabewala’ and ‘Shrimanta
Damodar Panta’, among others. Beside films, he also featured in numerous plays.
He is best known for the his role of Mavshi in the famous Marathi Stage drama
“Moruchi Mavshi”. This comedy play was penned by Pralhad Keshav Atre.
198.
The
National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed former Punjab and Haryana High
Court Chief Justice S J Vazifdar as head of a 3-member committee to decide
mining company Vedanta Limited’s plea challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s
order to close the Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi. The committee may, if
necessary, visit the site and consider the technical data and take a decision
as early as found viable preferably within 6 weeks after it assumes it’s
working. Recently, on 9th August 2018, the Tribunal had allowed Vedanta to
access the administrative unit inside its Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi
in Tamil Nadu. Though, the plant would remain closed and the company would not
have access to its production unit and directed the district magistrate to
ensure this. In March 2013, Sterlite’s factory came into limelight when a gas
leak led to the death of one person and injuries to several others, after which
then chief minister J Jayalalithaa had ordered its closure.
199.
The
book “No Spin” is the autobiography of renowned Australian bowler Shane Warne,
which will release on October 30. It is the true story behind the headlines, in
Warne’s own voice, and challenges some of the enduring myths and untruths that
surround him. The memoir is written with cricketer and TV presenter Mark
Nicholas. Warne is widely regarded as one of the finest bowlers in the history
of the game. He played his first Test match in 1992, and took over 1,000
international wickets.
200.
The
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has launched a Kerala
Heritage Rescue Initiative to assess damage to rich cultural and built heritage
in flood-devastated Kerala. The initiative aims to set up a platform for
emergency response to the cultural heritage damaged by the floods in Kerala. It
has also set up a Facebook page to collect information on the damage to
buildings, museum collections, cultural artefacts, libraries, archives, and
even intangible heritage. ICOMOS, which is headquartered in Paris, is an
inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the preservation of cultural
heritage worldwide through training, information, research, cooperation and
advocacy programmes. ICOMOS is also an advisory body to the UNESCO for cultural
heritage, in particular for implementation of the World Heritage Convention
(WHC).
201.
On
August 23, the International Water Colour Festival 2018 has started at Audrey
House in Ranchi, which is organized by the Jharkhand Art Culture and Tourism
Department in Audrey House. The aim of the 5-day fest is to bring local artists
in touch with the international art and promote the rich art and culture of
Jharkhand. During the water colour festival, the visiting artists will interact
with school students and local artists on various themes including “nature” and
“modern/abstract”. Approx 56 internationally renowned artists — from 24
countries and 25 Indian states are participating in the festival. The list of
artists from different countries include names like Anna Massinissa (Fabriano),
Zhou Tianya and Mong Sho (China), the Indian art diaspora in the festival will
be represented by Milind Mulick, Sailesh Meshram, Nirupam Konwar, Ramesh Jhawar
and Praween Karmaker, among others.
202.
Renowned
aerospace scientist Dr G Satheesh Reddy, who is scientific adviser to the
Defence minister, has been appointed new chairman of the Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) for a period of two years. He will also be
secretary in the Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) for
the same period. The post of DRDO chief was lying vacant since May 2018 after
the then Chief Dr. S. Christopher stepped down. Dr. Reddy is the first defence
scientist working in India to receive the Silver Medal of Royal Aeronautical
Society, UK, and has also been selected for the first IEI (India) and IEEE
(USA) joint award for Engineering Excellence.
203.
On
August 23, the annual festival at Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil has started in
Jaffna, Sri Lanka with the sacred flag hoisting ceremony and is attracting
thousands of Hindu pilgrims from within the country and abroad. During the
25-day festival, thousands of Tamil Hindu devotees will attend the rituals in
worship of Lord Murugan, Valli and Devanai Amman. The colourful festival
includes vibrant chariot processions, rhythmic drumming, dancing and acts of
self-mortification. The Ther Thiruvila (chariot festival) is the most popular
of all events is very colourful.
204.
The
2018 Krishi Kumbh International Conference and Exhibition will be held at
Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research (Telibagh) in Lucknow from October 26,
which will be organized by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The aim of the
3-day conference is to provide a platform to farmers, technical experts and
entrepreneurs for exchange of knowledge and expertise in the field of
agriculture sector. It also aims at increasing the agriculture production by
adopting advance technologies. In it, farmers from all 75 districts National
& International agriculture scientist, representatives from industries
& policy maker from Central and State govt. will participate.
205.
The
Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to organize a youths’ conclave “ATAL –
Arunachal Transformation & Aspirational Leadership” in Itanagar on 22nd
September 2018. The aim of the 3-day ATAL conclave is to engage youths in the
age group of 18 to 30 years of the state pro-actively in the areas of public
policy and governance. For this, they have to register themselves at
www.atalconclave.in. Participants shall brainstorm and present their ideas,
proposals and solutions for government policies and existing challenges faced
by the state before expert panels. Further, interactive sessions with key
policy makers, bureaucrats, sectoral experts, thought leaders, grass-root
change-makers are also planned to be hosted in the Conclave. The conclave will
see participation of 1000 youths of the state.
206.
Indian
shot putter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor from Punjab has clinched Gold in men’s
Shot-Put event with a record-shattering throw at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games
on August 25. He threw the iron ball to 20.75m to win the gold and set a
national as well as Asian Games record. The previous mark of 20.57m was set by
Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi of Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games
in China. With this, Tajinder became the first Indian to win the men’s shot put
gold at the Asian Games since Bahadur Singh Sagoo, who had thrown a best of
19.03m to win the gold in Busan in 2002. This is the 8th gold medal for India
in men’s shot put in the history of the Asian Games.
207.
The
world’s first blockchain bond “bond-i” has recently launched by World Bank
(WB), which is to be created, allocated, transferred and managed through its
life cycle using distributed ledger technology. The “bond-I” stands for
Blockchain Operated New Debt Instrument and is also has reference to Sydney’s
most famous beach ‘Bondi Beach’. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the sole
arranger of the issuance for the bond. It was the first time that the World
Bank bond raised capital from public investors through a legally valid bond
issuance that uses blockchain from start to finish. This 2-year maturity bond
has successfully raised 110 million Australian dollars (USD 80.48 million). The
World Bank, whose bonds hold an AAA rating, regularly uses its borrowing power
to help develop new bond markets as well as pioneering new means for selling
and trading the securities. The bond-i blockchain platform was built and
developed by the CBA Blockchain Centre of Excellence, housed in the Sydney
Innovation Lab.
208.
On
August 24, the National Electoral Transformation (NETA) mobile application has
been launched by former President Pranab Mukherjee wherein voters can review
and rate their elected representatives (MPs& MLAs) as well as hold them
accountable. Apart from this, the application is being seen as an instrument to
track voter sentiment across various constituencies in India. The purpose of
app is to foster political accountability by being an indicator of the ways in
which a leader’s performance is being perceived. To ensure participation, the
app requires a combination of mediums like the app itself, IVR calls, SMS and
even offline activation leveraging ASHA and anganwadi workers to collate data
on evolving political inclinations. The app is the brainchild of an
entrepreneur Pratham Mittal and is inspired by the US approval system.
209.
The
multi-nation counter-terror exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
Peace Mission 2018 has started at Chebarkul, Russia on August 24 to provide an
opportunity to the armed forces of SCO nations to train in counter terrorism
operations in urban scenario in a multinational and joint environment. The
scope of the exercise includes professional interaction, mutual understanding
of drills & procedures, establishment of joint command and control
structures and elimination of terrorist threat in urban counter terrorist
scenario. It will be for the first time since Independence that India and
Pakistan will both be part of a military exercise, though the armies of the two
nations have worked together in UN peace keeping missions. All 8 SCO member nations
– Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and
Pakistan – are participating in this exercise.
210.
Moody’s
Investors Service has recently released its Global Macro Outlook for 2018-19.
In it, the Indian economy is expected to grow by about 7.5% in 2018 and 2019 as
it is largely resilient to external pressures like those from higher oil
prices. However, the rating agency expects the India’s economy to grow at a
higher rate of 7.7% in the first quarter of 2018. Apart from this, Moody’s put
G-20 growth at 3.3% in 2018 and 3.1% in 2019. The advanced economies will grow
2.3% in 2018 and 2% in 2019.
211.
Fouaad
Mirza from Bangaluru clinched silver in the equestrian event with a score of
26.40 at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 26. With this, he became the
first Indian to win an Asian Games individual medal in the equestrian event
after 36 years. The last individual eventing medal came in 1982 when Raghubir
Singh topped the table in New Delhi. Beside this, the Indian equestrian team,
comprising Fouaad Mirza, Jitender Singh, Akash Malik and Rakesh Kumar, also won
silver in the same competition with a combined score of 121.30 in the ongoing
event. Equestrian is a sport related to Horse riding.
212.
Prasar
Bharati has recently signed MoU with Mizzima Media Group of Myanmar to realize
cooperation and collaboration in broadcasting and content sharing. The
agreement was signed in the presence of Prasar Bharati CEO, Shashi Shekhar
Vempati and Editor-in-chief and MD, Mizzima in New Delhi. The agreement will
realize cooperation and collaboration in broadcasting and envisions
content-sharing covering a wide range of genres, including culture,
entertainment, education, science, news and sports along with other areas of
mutual interest.
213. The
Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up
satellite-enabled telemedicine nodes to improve emergency medical support to
Indian soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen. ISRO will
establish 53 more nodes in the first phase over and above the existing 20, in
various establishments of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country.
These nodes will enable medical consultation between soldiers deployed at the
Siachen glacier and medical echelons in the rear. This joint initiative by ISRO
and the Armed Forces Medical Services will transform the reach of telemedicine
to soldiers, airmen and sailors in remote and isolated posts. One can say that
the communication through these nodes will be a paradigm shift in the delivery
of lifesaving health care in adverse terrain and extreme weather conditions
till the weather clears up and movement is possible.
214. Budget
passenger carrier SpiceJet has successfully conducted India’s first-ever test
flight powered by biojet fuel between Dehradun and Delhi on August 27, 2018.
The 43 minute flight was operated by the airline’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft
with total 25 on onboard, including crew. The flight was powered with a blend
of 75% Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) and 25% biojet fuel. The biojet fuel, which is
made from Jatropha crop, has been developed by the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) based in Dehradun along with Indian Institute of
Petroleum (IIP). The advantage of using biojet fuel as compared to ATF is that
it reduces carbon emissions and enhances fuel efficiency. The biojet fuel has
been recognised by American Standard Testing Method (ASTM) and meets the
specification standards of Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier for commercial
application in aircraft. Globally, bio-fuel powered flights are operated in
Canada.
215.
Gopal
Bose (71), the former Bengal cricket captain, has passed away in Birmingham,
England on August 26, 2018. He was the first cricketer from Bengal to play an
ODI against England in 1974, which was incidentally only the 2nd ODI that India
played. He had scored 3,757 runs in 78 first-class games with 8 hundreds and 17
fifties. He also took 72 wickets, including one five-for, with his handy
off-breaks. Bose was the head coach of Kolkata’s Cricket Club of Dhakuria(CCD).
Interestingly, Bose was the manager of the Virat Kohli-led India U-19 team that
won the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.
216. For
the first time, India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be fitted
with marine hydraulic systems “GS-1MF and GS-3” to boost the air operations of
the ship. The systems would be fitted by Russia’s Rostec State Corporation
through its subsidiary “Technodinamika” by May 2019. The upgradation and sea
trials of the ship will be done in India only. The hydraulics technology uses
fluid pressure to power machines. These hydraulic systems are used for
refuelling, cleaning and pressurization of hydraulic systems of aircraft and
helicopters which form part of the air-capable wing of INS Vikramaditya. GS-1MF
hydraulic system is used for helicopters while GS-3 is used for aircraft. INS
Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier, which entered into
service with the Indian Navy in 2013. It weighs 44,500 tonnes and is the
biggest & heaviest ship in the Indian Navy. It is 284m long and 60m high —
that’s about as high as a 20-storeyed building. The ship weighs 40,000 tonnes
and is the biggest & heaviest ship in the Indian Navy.
217.
The
3rd edition of Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) 2018 has started in Hanoi, Vietnam
on August 27 with theme ‘Building Regional Architectures’. The 2-day conference
was inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with her
Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Binh Minh. Ms Swaraj also unveiled the bust of
Mahatma Gandhi in the Chancery building at the Embassy of India in Hanoi. The
purpose of the conference is to serve a platform to the countries to come
closer and exchange better views on the economic and strategic importance of
the region and neighbourhood. The conference will see 43 countries as
participants while 28 ministers and officials are set to address the event. The
conference will emphasise on better cooperation, strategic collaboration and governance
architectures.
218.
The
committee, chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, has recently
submitted final report on review of penal provisions of Company Act 2013 to the
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. The Committee
recommended that the existing rigour of the law should continue for serious
offences, covering six categories, whereas for lapses that are essentially
technical or procedural in nature, mainly falling under two categories may be
shifted to in-house adjudication process. The report makes recommendations for
de-clogging the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) through significant
reduction in compounding cases before the Tribunal. The Committee was
constituted by the Union government in July 2018 to review the existing
framework dealing with offences under the Companies Act, 2013 and related
matters and make recommendations to promote better corporate compliance.
219.
Olympic
Silver Medalist PV Sindhu has created history by becoming the first-ever Indian
shuttler to enter a badminton final at the Asian Games. She stormed into the
women’s singles final after defeating Akane Yamaguchi of in the semi-final at
the 18th Asian Games 2018 on August 27. Sindhu will now face World No 1 Chines
Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying in a Gold rush on August 28. Earlier, top shuttler Saina
Nehwal settled for a Bronze after losing her women’s singles semifinal in
straight sets 17-21, 14-21 to Tai Tzu Ying. With this, Nehwal became the first
Indian to win an individual medal in badminton 36 years after Syed Modi had
clinched the bronze at the 1982 Delhi Asian Games.
220.
The
Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 eliminates leprosy as a ground for
dissolution of marriage or divorce. It is an attempt to end the discrimination
against leprosy persons in various central laws: The Divorce Act, 1869; the
Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939; the Special Marriage Act, 1954; the
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956.
The Bill is meant to provide for the integration of leprosy patients into the
mainstream. Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium
leprae. It usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves, but has a wide range
of clinical manifestations. According to WHO, leprosy affected 2,12,000 people
globally in 2015. India alone reported 1,27,326 new cases, accounting for 60%
of new cases globally.
221.
On
August 27, the 4th edition of Asian electoral stakeholders forum (AESF-IV) has
started in Colombo, Sri Lanka to discuss the state of elections and democracy
in the region. The two-day forum is held for the first time in South Asia with
support from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka and the Asian network for
free elections (ANFREL). The forum gives an opportunity for Asian election commissions,
election observers, non-government organizations, and interstate bodies to
gather and discuss the state of elections and democracy in the region. The AESF
was attended by more than 250 delegates from 45 countries. India is represented
by Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra Ashwini Kumar and an NGO.
222.
Satya
S Tripathi, the veteran Indian development economist and UN official, has been
appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The appointment was made by UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Mr. Tripathi, who will succeed Elliott
Harris of Trinidad and Tobago, has worked with the UN since 1998 in Europe,
Asia and Africa on sustainable development, human rights, democratic governance
and legal affairs. UN Environment is the leading agency at the world body
focussed on environment. It works with governments, the private sector, the
civil society and with other UN entities and international organisations across
the world.
223.
Dr.
Ravinder Kumar Singhal (53), the Maharashtra cadre IPS officer & presently
Nashik Police Commissioner, has successfully completed the immensely difficult
“Ironman triathlon” in 15 hours and 13 minutes as against the stipulated time
of 17 hours in France on August 26, 2018. The Ironman is an international
triathlon consisting of three consecutive events- 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km
cycling and 42.2 km of running (a full marathon). It is considered one of the
toughest one-day sporting events in the world. The competitors have to complete
the events in sequence within 17 hours to earn the title of ‘Ironman’. Earlier,
model-turned-actor Milind Soman had successfully completed the race in 2015.
Beside this, Anju Khosla (52) became the oldest Indian woman to complete an
Ironman Triathlon in Austria on July 2018, while Major General Vikram Dogra
became the first serving Indian Army officer and the only General across the
world to have successfully completed a gruelling ‘Ironman’ competition held in
Klagenfurt, Austria in July 2018.
224.
Neeraj
Chopra has created history by becoming the first-ever Indian javelin-thrower to
win an Asian Games gold medal. He shattered his own national record by clearing
a distance of 88.06m at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 27. He also
became the 2nd Indian after Milkha Singh to win a Commonwealth and Asian Games
gold in the event in the same year. Beside this, Neeraj became the 3rd Indian
javelin-thrower to win a medal at the Asian Games after Gurtej Singh (who won a
bronze in the 1982 edition in New Delhi) and Parsa Singh (who became the first
Indian to won a silver at the 1951 New Delhi Asian Games).
225.
The
book “Atal Ji Ne Kaha” is authored and compiled by Brijendra Rehi, who is
Doordarshan producer & senior journalist. It is a book on the BJP patriarch
and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which was launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. The book has 26 chapters based on former Prime
Minister’s speeches which is on economy, policies, small industries, social
development, nuclear programme, science and technology or terrorism. It is
replete with pictures of the late Prime Minister. Beside this, Rehi has
published 11 books so far including Muktiswar, Kaka and Mewad Ke Itihaas Ki
Jhanki.
226.
The
Odisha government has launched a programme “Mu Hero, Mu Odisha” (I am Hero-I am
Odisha)” to dentify and to give recognition to the young achievers of the
state. The initiative is to be conducted by the Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) members.
227.
Indra
Nooyi, the PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, has been selected as Asia Society’s Game
Changer of the Year for 2018 in recognition of her pioneering business
achievements, humanitarian record, and advocacy for women and girls around the
world. The award will be presented at the 5th Annual Asia Game Changer Awards
Dinner and Celebration in New York City on October 9, 2018. The event will also
feature the first-ever U.S. performance of Koolulam.
228.
On
24 August, the Japan Women’s National Team has won the 9th edition of 2018 FIFA
U-20 Women’s World Cup tournament by beating the Spanish team 3-1 at the final
in France. In Japanese football history, it’s their first-ever FIFA U-20
Women’s World Cup title. The FIFA Fair Play Award was goes to Japanese team. It
must be noted that France will also host the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which
is schedule to take place between June-July.
229.
On
August 28, the Government of India (GoI) has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Chief Ministers of 6 Upper Yamuna basin states for the
construction of Lakhwar multi-purpose project in Uttarakhand. The states are
Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The
Lakhwar project envisages construction of a 204m high concrete dam across river
Yamuna near Lohari village in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand with a live
storage capacity of 330.66 Million Cubic Metre (MCM). This storage will provide
78.83 MCM water for domestic, drinking and industrial use in the six basin
states. It will also irrigate 33,780 hectares of land and generate 300MW of
power. Out of the total project cost of Rs 3966.51 crore, the power component
of Rs. 1388.28 crore will be borne totally by the Uttarakhand government.
Uttarakhand will also get the benefit of total power generation once the
project is complete. The project is to be executed by M/s Uttarakhand Jal
Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVL).
230.
Indian
sprinter Dutee Chand from Odisha clinched silver in women’s 100m dash in the
18th Asian Games 2018 to win the country’s first medal in 20 years in this
event. Earlier, she was suspended by the IAAF in 2014 under its
hyperandrogenism policy but she filed an appealed before the Court of
Arbitration for Sports and won it. Recently, under a revised rule of the IAAF,
Dutee was left outside the purview of the hyperandrogenism policy which gave
her liberty to pursue her career. India’s last medal in this event was the
bronze won by Rachita Mistry in 1998 Asian Games.
231.
IIT-Kharagpur
has recently conducted study on River Ganga that indicates that river is drying
up in summers due to groundwater depletion. The study, published recently in
Scientific Reports magazine by Nature Publishing Group, used a combination of
satellite images of groundwater levels of Ganga, numerical simulations and
chemical analyses to draw the conclusion. The study asserted that the decline
of groundwater inflow (base flow) is also impacting the health of the river.
The study also observed that in the forthcoming summers, for the next 30 years,
groundwater contribution to river Ganga will continue decreasing. The trend can
lead to disastrous effect on the riverine ecology and lead to food scarcity for
115 million people in the Ganga basin. Abhijit Mukherjee, associate professor
of Geology in IIT-Kharapur, along with researchers Soumendra Nath Bhanja from
Canada and Yoshihide Wada from IIASA Austria has conducted the study. The
research was carried out under IIT-KGP Science and Heritage Initiative (SANDHI)
Initiative, which focuses on river systems and its relationship with settlement
system.
232.
On
August 29, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its
approval for the umbrella scheme “Ocean Services, Technology, Observations,
Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART)” of Ministry of Earth Sciences. The
scheme with an overall cost of Rs. 1623 crore encompasses a total of 16
sub-projects addressing ocean development activities such as Services,
Technology, Resources, Observations and Science. The services rendered under
the O-SMART will provide economic benefits to a number of user communities in the
coastal and ocean sectors, namely, fisheries, offshore industry, coastal
states, Defence, Shipping, Ports etc. This scheme also provides necessary
scientific and technological background required for implementation of various
aspects of Blue Economy.
233.
On
August 28, Manjit Singh clinched gold in the men’s 800 metres event at the 2018
Jakarta Asian Games, which was India’s first gold in the event since Charles
Borromeo won in 1982 Asiad. Beside this, Indian sprinter Jinson Johnson from
Kerala also won the silver at the same event. With this, India achieved a rare
one-two in men’s 800m at the Asian Games. Manjit clocked 1:46.15 while Johnson
clocked 1:46.35 to make it a memorable double for India. It was India’s only
second one-two finish in 800m at the Games since Ranjit Singh and Kulwant Singh
achieved the feat at the inaugural edition held in New Delhi in 1951.
234.
At
the 4th edition of Google for India event, Google has launched Project Navlekha
to help Indian vernacular news publishers to take their content online. It does
not require any technical know-how of web publishing and can be used by anyone.
Currently, the project has publishers from Delhi and its reach would soon be
expanded across India. Navlekha, which means ‘a new way to write’ in Sanksrit,
will allow 1.35 lakh Indian publishers to digitize their offline content by
creating instant web pages using scanned documents or PDFs. The registered
publishers on Navlekha will also be provided with free web hosting, along with
a branded domain for 3 years. They’ll also have AdSense support to begin
monetising their content. To be available initially in Hindi language, Google
will not charge the publication for the publication tools and the domain name
for the first 3 years.
235.
North
Korea will host the 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in
its capital Pyongyang from October 27.
236.
Ulka
Mahajan, who is one of the three founders of Sarvahara Jan Andolan (SJA), has
been conferred Praful Bidwai Memorial Award for 2018. The award was presented
to Mahajan by social activist Medha Patkar. It was instituted in the memory of
journalist and social activist “Praful Bidwai” who died in Amsterdam in 2015
and was committed to radical social transformation, justice for all and gender
equality. The award seeks to recognize the efforts of individuals and
institutions that strive for similar ends.
237.
The
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has decided to launch `Gaganyaan —
India’s first human spaceflight programme’ by 2022. The mission will aim to
send a 3-member crew to space for a period of 5 to 7 days. The spacecraft will
be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400km and the total programme cost is
expected to be less than Rs. 10,000 crores. The crew will be selected by the
Indian Air Force and ISRO jointly after which they will undergo training for 2
to 3 years. It is expected that the mission may be executed six months before
India completes its 75th Independence Day with the help of GSLV Mk-III launch
vehicle.The objectives of the Mission are to inspire youth, increase science
and technology levels in the country, improve industrial growth, develop
technology for social benefits, etc. The programme will make India the 4th
nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission. So far, only the
USA, Russia and China have launched human spaceflight missions.
238.
The
National Sports Day (NSD) is celebrated every year in India on August 29 to
mark the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, who
was known as ‘The Wizard’ or ‘The Magician’ of hockey for his superb ball
control. He won gold medals in Olympics for India in the years 1928, 1934 and
1936. He scored over 400 goals in his career, from 1926 to 1948. His
autobiography “Goal!” was published by Sport & Pastime, Madras in 1952. The
Government of India (GoI) awarded him the 3rd highest civilian honour of Padma
Bhushan in 1956. Beside this, the most noted memorial for him is the Major
Dhyan Chand Award, which is the highest award for lifetime achievement in
sports and games in India. It has been awarded annually from 2002 to sporting
figures that not only contribute through their performance but also contribute
to the sport after their retirement.
239.
The
Government of India (GoI) has constituted a 21-member committee to advise Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on policy matters related to science, technology and
innovation. The committee, dubbed as Prime Minister’s Science Technology and
Innovation Council (PM-STIAC), will be headed by K Vijay Raghavan, the
principal scientific adviser to the GoI. It will facilitate the formulation and
implementation of policies and decisions, provide action-oriented and future
preparedness advise and assist in directing S&T to solve the socio economic
problems in the country. It will also have a large focus on driving innovation
in education, research, industry etc.
240.
Emmerson
Mnangagwa was officially sworn-in as the new President of Zimbabwe on August
26, after narrowly winning the 2018 Zimbabwean general election. It was the
country’s first election since the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe. The
President of Zimbabwe is the head of state of Zimbabwe, elected by direct
universal suffrage using a two-round system. The President is also the head of
government, as the office of Prime Minister was abolished in 1987. Zimbabwe is
a landlocked country and its capital is Harare.
241.
The
Government of India (GoI) and the World Bank signed a $220 million Loan
Agreement and a $80 million Guarantee Agreement for the India Energy Efficiency
Scale-Up Program. The program will be implemented by the Energy Efficiency
Services Limited (EESL). It will help scale-up the deployment of energy saving
measures in residential and public sectors. The investments under the Program
are expected to avoid lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of 170 million tons of
CO2, and contribute to avoiding an estimated 10 GW of additional generation
capacity. The Program will help tackle the financing, awareness, technical and
capacity barriers faced by new energy efficiency programmes and support the Unnat
Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and Street Lighting National Program
(SLNP) schemes. The $220 million IBRD loan has a 5-year grace period & a
maturity of 19 years while the $80 million IBRD guarantee will partially cover
re-payment risks to commercial lenders or investors, to enable EESL to raise
funds for its programme.
242.
The
first-ever SAARC Agriculture Cooperative Business Forum has started in
Kathmandu, Nepal on August 29, 2018. It is co-organized by the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA) with the
support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The
aim of the forum is to bring together representatives both from the government
and non-governmental entities from the Member States of SAARC as well as from
regional and international organizations. The theme of 3-day Forum is the
‘Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers’ Cooperatives to attain the
Sustainable-Development-Goals-1 and 2 in South Asia.
243.
Despite
competing with a severe toothache, Swapna Barman from West Bengal clinched gold
in the women’s heptathlon with 6026 points at the 18th Asian Games 2018 in
Jakarta on August 29. With this, she created history by becoming the first
Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold. Before Barman, only Bengal’s
Soma Biswas and Karnataka’s JJ Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a
medal from the Asian Games. Soma and Shobha had finished two-three at both
Busan Asian Games (2002) and the Doha Games (2006), while Pramila had won a
bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
244.
In
Argentina, the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting 2018 was held in Salta
with theme ‘Building consensus for fair and sustainable development’ on August
23-24. It took place as part of Sherpa Track for 2018 G20 Leaders’ Summit,
which is to be hosted by Argentina by end of 2018. India was represented by
Union Minister for Electronics and IT & Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar
Prasad. The G20 Ministerial meeting allowed India to showcase the inclusive use
of digital technology by the Government to empower the people. It also allowed
India to articulate it’s views on global issues relating to cyber security,
data protection and innovation for growth. The key issues of the meeting were
future of work, infrastructure for development, and sustainable food future. It
concluded with the adaptation of declaration that reflects G20’s commitment
towards promoting policies and actions that catalyze digital transformations.
245.
Arpinder
Singh from Punjab clinched India’s first men’s triple jump gold in 48 years,
with a jump of 16.77m in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 29. With this,
he became the 2nd Indian sportsperson to achieve this landmark. Before him,
Mohinder Singh Gill won gold medal in triple jump event in 1970 Bangkok Asian
games event.
246.
The
Government of India has signed a $375 million loan agreement with the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) for Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Efficiency Improvement
Project (MPIEIP). The aim of the pact is to double farming incomes in Madhya
Pradesh by expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency. The project
will focus on two large irrigation systems: Kundalia irrigation project &
Sanjay Sarovar Irrigation Project. It will develop 125,000 hectares of new,
highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks, and improve water
use efficiency in more than 400 villages, which will benefit over 800,000
people across the state. The project will also help farmers to adopt
micro-irrigated agriculture including high-value crops.
247.
The
6th edition of RCEP Trade Ministers’ Meeting 2018 has started in Singapore on
August 30, which consists of 10 ASEAN countries and six ASEAN FTA partners
namely, India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. In it, the
Indian delegation is led by Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Commerce &
Industry and Civil Aviation. The aim of 2-day meeting is to work towards a high
quality, balanced and inclusive outcomes that take into consideration
sensitivities and interests of member countries. The Ministers will deliberate
on the current global economic situation and exchange views on promotion of
rule-based multilateral trading system and its importance to the stability and
effective functioning of the global economic order. This will be followed by
the 15th India-ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM) which will take stock of
the current level of trade and economic engagement between India and ASEAN.
248.
Ruchi
Ghanashyam, the 1982 batch IFS officer, has been appointed India’s new High
Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK). She succeeded Y K Sinha. Prior to this
post, she was the Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Ghanashyam was the first Indian woman diplomat to be posted in Islamabad when
the harassment of Indian diplomats was routine.
249.
The
14th edition of multilateral regional maritime engagement exercise “KAKADU
2018” has started in Darwin, Australia from August 29 and will continue till
September 15. It is hosted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and supported by
the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Indian Naval Ship ‘INS Sahyadri’,
commanded by Captain Shantanu Jha, is participating in this edition of
exercise. Indian Navy’s participation is a significant milestone in towards
strengthening mutual confidence among regional navies and is expected to
further bolster India’s contribution in ensuring peace and stability in the
Indo-Pacific region. The exercise KAKADU is held biennially in Darwin and the
Northern Australian Exercise Areas (NAXA). Exercise KAKADU derives its name
from Kakadu National Park, which is a protected area in the northern territory
of Australia, 171 km south-east of Darwin.
250.
The
World Bank (WB) will provide a $250 million loan facility to Rajasthan for
improving the performance of its electricity distribution sector under the 24×7
Power for All program. For this, an agreement was signed among the Government
of India, the Government of Rajasthan and the World Bank. The key areas that
the programme will support include strengthening governance in the distribution
sector by establishing annual performance MoUs between the DISCOMs and the
State Government. To address the concerns of affordability and access to
electricity for the poor, the program also supports the Union Government’s
Domestic Efficient Lighting Program (DELP), under which more than 15 million
LED lamps have been distributed in the State.
251.
The
Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows set up by the Ministry of Women
& Child Development (MoWCD) under the Swadhar Greh scheme. It is said to be
the largest-ever facility of its kind created by a government organization,
which will be inaugurated by Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath at
Vrindavan in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh on 31st August 2018. The new widows’ home
has been constructed to mitigate the plight of widows living in pathetic
condition in Vrindavan. The design of the four-storey building has been
prepared in consultation with the non-governmental organisation, HelpAge India.
It consists amenities like ramps and lifts for senior citizens and
differently-abled people. The facility is also equipped with a large modern
kitchen and a skill cum training centre. The construction of the home has been
funded by Central Government and will be managed by the Government of Uttar
Pradesh.
252.
Germany
has sanctioned a soft loan of euro 120 million ( approx Rs. 990 crore) to India
for National Clean Ganga Mission & to strengthen sewage water treatment
infrastructure in Uttarakhand. The purpose of the project is to reduce the
inflow of untreated waste water in River Ganga & to improve the water
quality of the river. The project would focus on extension and replacement of
sewerage system (around 360Km) including complete house connection,
construction of sewage treatment plants of around 15 million litres per day
(mld).The initiative also includes construction of 13 sewage pumping stations.
Beside this, the German development agency GIZ has prepared a ‘Ganga Box’ that
aimed to target schools-going children and inform them about the river. The
concept ‘Ganga book’ was planned on the lines of ‘Danube Book’ when the
cleaning of Rhine River was undertaken. The Ganga book would have information
mythological, socio-cultural, economic importance about the river and
suggestions to avoid pollution, like not dumping plastic in the water body.
253.
The
Madhya Pradesh government has organized an interactive programme “Mil -Banche”
in government schools of state on August 31, 2018. It is a first of its kind
initiative i.e. being organized for multi-dimensional development of children
through language skill up-gradation, reading other books in addition to
textbooks, developing interest in understanding and other co-curricular
activities. Over 2 lakh volunteers who have registered for the programme
include 820 engineers, 843 doctors, 36 thousand employees of private sector, 19
thousand public representatives and around 45 thousand government employees and
officers. Volunteers will read out one chapter of any book from either the
school library or the Hindi textbook during the programme. After the reading
session, the students present in the class will be asked interesting questions
and will be introduced to the art of conversation and reading after group
discussion.
254.
Indian
sprinter Jinson Johnson from Kerala clinched gold with a timing of 3 minutes
44.72 seconds in men’s 1500m race at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 30.
He also holds the credit of winning silver in the 800m track event at the
ongoing event, finishing behind compatriot Manjit Singh, who won the Gold. With
this, India achieved a rare one-two in men’s 800m at the 18th Asian Games 2018.
It was India’s only second one-two finish in 800m at the Games since Ranjit
Singh and Kulwant Singh achieved the feat at the inaugural edition held in New
Delhi in 1951.
255.
The
Government of India (GoI) has signed a $346 million million loan agreement with
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Karnataka State Highways lmprovement lll
Project (KSHIP-lll). Under KSHIP-III, about 419Kms of state highways will be
upgraded to two- and four-lane roads and will involve reconstruction as well as
widening and strengthening of bridges and culverts. It will enhance
connectivity and access to economic centers across 12 districts in the state.
The key element of the project is the use of hybrid annuity contracts to
increase participation of private sector and improve quality &
sustainibility of road assets with performance based maintenance period of 7
years post construction. The project will also carry out a road safety audit to
identify and mitigate critical accident blackspots across the state highway
network and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Karnataka Public
Works, Ports, and lnland Water Transport Department (IWTD).
256.
India
has signed MoU with International Energy Agency (IEA) on enhancing innovation
for the Clean Energy Transition on August 30, 2018. The MoU was signed between
secretary of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Dr. Renu Swarup and Executive
Director of IEA, Dr. Fatih Birol. The MoU seeks to deepen co-operation in
support of clean energy innovations to accelerate the Research, Development and
Demonstration (RD&D) of clean energy technologies in India and will help
support the generation of data for policymaking and improve knowledge of good
policy practices for innovation in India and around the world. The MoU will
ensure cooperation for sharing of energy policies on RD&D and sharing of
best practices on data collection and analysis. IEA is an autonomous intergovernmental
organization, which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for
its 30 member countries and beyond. It’s headquarters is located in Paris,
France.
257.
The
Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has announced new ranking system –
named Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) – for
higher educational institutions to promote culture of innovation and research
in higher education at AICTE in New Delhi. The new ranking system will be
formally launched on October 15, the birth anniversary of former President APJ
Abdul Kalam. The first results will be declared on February 28, 2019, which is
also Science Day. ARIIA – named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee- will focus on:
budget expenses and revenues generated; facilitating access to advance centres;
ideas of entrepreneurship; innovation ecosystems supported through teaching and
learning; and innovative solutions to improve governance of the institution. It
will rank educational institutions for innovation output based on all major
indicators and parameters used globally.
258.
The
4th edition of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit 2018 was successfully concluded in
Kathmandu, Nepal with Kathmandu declaration on August 30 to 31. From India,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the summit that focused on increasing
regional connectivity between the BIMSTEC nations including roads, airways and
transmission lines. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed on
establishing a BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection to enhance energy cooperation among
the member-States. The BIMSTEC, comprising India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, accounts for 22% of the global population.
It has a combined GDP of USD 2.8 trillion. Here, Sri Lankan President
Maithripala Sirisena took over the Chairmanship of the 5th Summit of BIMSTEC.
Now, the next BIMSTEC summit will be held in Sri Lanka.
259.
In
New Delhi, Indian Railways has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with GAIL India Ltd for use of environment-friendly fuel ‘Natural Gas’ in
Railway workshops and production units. The purpose of the pact is to replace
Industrial gases like Dissolved Acetylene, LPG, Bharat Metal Cutting Gas (BMCG)
and Furnace Oil / High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil with Natural Gas. The use of
natural gas has a potential to replace fuel worth Rs 70 crore per annum. This
historic partnership will pave the way for supply of Natural Gas to Railway
workshops, integral coach factories, loco workshops, DEMU sheds, etc. located
along the existing and upcoming pipeline networks of GAIL. This endeavour shall
reduce carbon foot-prints of IR and contribute positively towards achieving
COP21 commitments.
260.
NITI
Aayog will organise MOVE: India’s First Global Mobility Summit 2018 at Vigyan
Bhawan in New Delhi on September 7. The aim of the summit is to showcase
innovation and build a platform to shape the future of mobility, The summit
will constitute three designated components – the Conclave, Digital Exhibition,
and Featured Events. The six themes of the 2-day summit are asset utilisation
and service, comprehensive electrification, alternative energy, reinventing
public transit, logistics and goods transport and data analytics and mobility.
The summit, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will
help drive the government’s goals for vehicle electrification, renewable energy
integration and job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean
energy economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment