Current Affairs - August 13, 2017 Current Affairs

American sprinter Allyson Felix has become the Most decorated athlete in world championships with 15 medals, breaking Usain Bolt's shared all-time record of most medals at the biennial athletics event.

International Youth Day is commemorated every year on 12 August. It encourages youth around the world to organize activities to raise awareness about the situation of youth in their country. The theme of International Youth Day 2017 is Youth Building Peace.

Shooter Maheshwari Chauhan bagged a bronze medal at the Asian Shotgun Championship to earn India's first women's skeet individual medal at a top international competition in Astana.

The FIAT Rail Bogie Karkhana, set up at Badiyal and Kadechur Villages in Yadgir district of Karnataka will be inaugurated by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on August 18. This will be the first Railway Production Unit to come up on South Central Railway. The Karkhana was completed at a cost of Rs 80.92 crore and has come up on 150 acres of land given free by Government of Karnataka to Indian Railways.

The International Biodiesel Day (IBD) is celebrated every year on August 10 with an aim to turn the focus to non-fossil fuels. The day also honours the research experiments by Sir Rudolf Diesel who ran an engine with peanut oil in the year of 1893. The Biodiesel is an alternative fuel which can be used in place of fossil fuels. It is manufactured from vegetable oils, recycled grease, algae, and animal fat.

The Oxford University Press (OUP) has recently launched online dictionaries in Tamil and Gujarati languages. The launch is a part of Oxford Global Languages (OGL) initiative with an aim to build dictionaries and lexicographical resources for around 100 of the world's languages and to make them available online. Before Tamil and Gujarati versions, the Hindi online dictionary was launched in 2016. Thus, the OGL is a bold initiative from OUP for a modern challenge and a huge opportunity.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to close down those technical colleges which recorded less than 30% admissions in the last five years. According to AICTE data, there are around ten thousand three hundred fifty engineering institutions in the country that are approved by the AICTE with a total intake capacity of over 37 lakh students. Out of this, 27 lakh seats are lying vacant. Anil D Sahasrabuddhe, Chairman of AICTE, has stated that council has been actively working on reducing the quantity of engineering institutions across the country due to poor demand and falling quality of education.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry will celebrate Sankalp to Siddhi - New India Manthan in all the districts of the country from 19th to 30th of this month. Shri Radha Mohan Singh informed that New India Manthan program to be organized in all Districts of the Country.

Heritage Conservation Society has launched a scheme - 'Nabin Tan Mon Bikash Yojana' - in memory of Nabin Sharma. The scheme is especially for school children. After August 15 the members will visit schools in the entire region to promote the scheme. Dr Navanil Baruah, Dhirendra Nath Choudhury, Nirupama Borgahain were present at the launch of the scheme. To promote health habits among children like correct standing and sitting posture, songs and rhymes for different musical drill of Sisu Prami Nabin Sharma are now preserved by Adviser Gayatri Goswami in Digital form.

Norway is set to become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio which have until now been broadcast via the radio. This started its' switching to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) that offers a wider range of broadcasting options and greater sound quality. The main reason behind this technological shift is to offer a better radio service to the whole population.

Israeli Holocaust survivor Yisrael Kristal, certified last year by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest man, died aged 113.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) won the 'Green Marketer' award at the debut edition of Marquee Awards 2017. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter was awarded for 'Breathing new life into a category', Indian Accent was recognized for 'Creating a Global Impact' while Oppo was recognized for 'Carving out a Niche' for themselves in a highly competitive category.