Current Affairs - August 29, 2017 Current Affairs

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over the Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) jointly developed by India and Israel, to the Indian Navy, at Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL). LRSAM is an advanced combat suit for missile defence against air targets and missiles, and has full capabilities of air and surface surveillance, threat alert and fire control. Public sector BDL is the missile production agency for the three armed forces.

Kerala Chief Minister Shri Pinarayi Vijayan launched the host city logo for Kochi, one of the venues of FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017. The logo represents and reflects Kochi's identity and will be a valuable tool in linking the local community in a global World Cup. It is the first Indian city to be officially declared as one of the venues for hosting the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Country's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel has partnered with Symantec to provide cyber defense to enterprises. As part of the tie-up, Airtel will be the exclusive cyber security services partner for Symantec and will distribute the latter's enterprise security software, primarily targeting its existing enterprise customers. Through the partnership with Symantec, Airtel will help its enterprise customers to secure their systems.

National Sports Day in India is celebrated on August 29, the birthday of Dhyan Chand, one of the greatest field hockey players of all time. Dhyan Chand won gold medals for India in Olympics in the years 1928,1932 and 1936. The National Sports Day celebrations are a commemoration of his achievements.The day is also known as Rashtriya Khel Divas.

According to 2017 report by the United Nations World Tourism (UNWTO), the island of Tuvalu was the least visited country in 2016. Only 2,000 people ventured to the South Pacific paradise of Tuvalu in 2016. The latest report reveals that there are 15 least-visited countries globally. Kiribati is the 2nd least visited country, followed by Sao Tome and Principe, Montserrat, Comoros, Djibouti, San Marino, Timor-Leste, Liechtenstein, Sierra Leone, Anguilla, Moldova, Bangladesh, Bhutan and French Guiana.

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) launched the world's first diamond futures contracts on Monday to provide exporters with a hedging tool. ICEX has launched 1 ct diamond futures contract for delivery in November and followed by contracts with monthly settlements. ICEX will offer HVS2 quality diamond certified by the International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR), a De Beers group company, and vaulting services will be offered by Malca Amit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation 11 completed highway projects in Rajasthan, covering a total length of about 873 kilometers. He laid the foundation stone of national highway projects worth around 15,000 crore rupees in the state.

Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 from Monday, as the world's toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect. The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy. Kenya's law allows police to go after anyone even carrying a plastic bag.

Nungthaang Tampak village has emerged as the '100 percent computer literate' not only in the state but in the entire North East. The training program was organised by Mangaal Rural, an NGO working for rural development. The Nungthang Tampak has become India's second 100 percent computer literate village in India. Kerala's Chamravattom village is the country's first 100 percent computer literate village.

The Haryana government will organize Digital Haryana Summit (DHS) in Gurugram on September 15, 2017 to discuss issues like digital governance, smart living in cities and villages, citizen partnership, entrepreneurship, skilling and geo-governance and sustainability, among others. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will be partner for this event and the summit would be organised as a part of the state's Swarna Jayanti celebrations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed committee on Household Finance has recently recommended that banks should link their home loan rates to the RBI's repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks. The committee, whose recommendations are not binding, suggests that this will allow for better and more transparent transmission of interest rates in the economy to individuals. As per recommendations, banks should quote loans to customers using the RBI repo rate rather than based on their own MCLR rates. This would make it easier for customers to compare rates at the time of purchase. The committee was chaired by Dr Tarun Ramadorai, who is Professor of Financial Economics, Imperial College Business School in London. The committee has also recommended that all banks use the same reset period of one month for loans. Under the current system, floating rate loans have a fixation period of roughly one year.

Twitter has kicked off its new media agency programme called #TweetToTheTop in India. Eleven agencies from global media and advertising networks including Dentsu, GroupM, IPG and Omnicom will be participating in this initiative. It aims to attract hundreds of young media planners and executives from the five markets to showcase their best work using Twitter solutions.

Karnataka's Department of Tourism announced Dasara Special Tour Packages on the occasion of Dasara. Golden Chariot is South India's first and only luxury tourist train run by Karnataka State Tourist Department Corporation (KSTDC). It includes a two night and one day package at a subsided rate of Rs 25,000 per person (for Indians) and Rs 40, 000 for foreigners.

Seven Indian companies have made it to the latest Clean200 list, featuring the world's largest publicly traded companies making significant revenue from clean energy. The seven companies on the list released earlier this month are Suzlon Energy (Rank 55), Bharat Heavy Electricals (Rank 85), Tata Chemicals (Rank 144), Exide Industries (Rank 155), IDFC Ltd (167), Thermax Ltd (Rank 169), and Havells India (Rank 200).

India and Germany signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme - Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC). The main aim of this programme is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energy.