Current Affairs - August 22, 2018 Current Affairs

In a tribute to the late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Chhattisgarh Cabinet approved the proposal to rename Naya Raipur as 'Atal Nagar'. Chief Minister Raman Singh made the announcement after a Cabinet meeting. The Bilaspur University will be known as Atal Bihari Vajpayee University while the Narrow Gauge Line will be called Atal Path. The Central Park, which is being constructed beside collectorate, will be named as Atal Park.

Mukesh Ambani-led telecom company Reliance Jio secured the top spot in Fortune's global 'Change the World' list released on August 20. American pharma company Merck ranked second while Bank of America ranked third on the list. Chinese group Alibaba is ranked 5th on the list.

Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has announced to set up Cyclone Warning Centre in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram. It also proposed to set up C-band Doppler weather radar at Mangalore, Karnataka. This comes in view of recent heavy rainfall and concerns over extreme weather activities in future. At present, India Meteorological Centre (IMD) has six cyclone warning centres, four along the east coast at Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, and two along the west coast at Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

President Ram Nath Kovind appointed governors for seven states - Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Tripura. Governor Satya Pal Malik has been transferred from Bihar to Jammu and Kashmir to replace NN Vohra, while senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon has been appointed the Governor of Bihar, replacing Malik. 1. Satya Pal Malik - Jammu & Kashmir. 2. Tathagata Roy - Meghalaya (Replaced Ganga Prasad). 3. Lalji Tandon - Bihar (Replaced Satya Pal Malik). 4. Ganga Prasad - Sikkim (Replaced Shriniwas Patil). 5. Kaptan Singh Solanki -Tripura (Replaced Tathagata Roy). 6. Satyadev Narayan Arya - Haryana (Replaced Kaptan Singh Solanki). 7. Baby Rani Maurya - Uttarakhand (Replaced K K Paul).

Answer: Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the finals to win his first title of Cincinnati Masters. Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon Championships in July 2018, was the runner-up of the Cincinnati Masters on five occasions. Novak Djokovic became the first player to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

Veteran cricketer VVS Laxman, known for the suppleness of his wrists, has penned down his autobiography titled, "281 and Beyond". The book will be released this year in November. The book will be released by the Westland Publications. The title has been borrowed from the Hyderabad stylist's fabulous series-turning innings of 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001.

Digital payments firm Paytm has partnered with China's Alibaba to launch AI-based cloud computing platform 'Paytm AI Cloud'. The platform will offer business-centric apps to developers, startups and enterprises that need cloud-computing solutions including customer engagement and easy-to-integrate payments. It will process and store all consumer data locally in servers located only in India. The company has committed around Rs 250 crore in this business.

According to European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Greece has successfully exited its final, 3-year bailout programme, agreed in August 2015 to help it cope with the continued fallout from a debt crisis.The ESM has disbursed 61.9 billion euros over 3 years in support of macroeconomic adjustment and bank recapitalisation.The ESM is a European Union agency that provides financial assistance.

The India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC), IIM Ahmedabad won an award for Outstanding Contribution to Gold Policy Research in 2017-18 at the 15th India International Gold Convention held in Kochi. The award was received by Professor Arvind Sahay, Chairman of IGPC, along with his team. The convention was held at Le Meridien Convention Centre. Around 400 delegates participated.

Retired judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court TP Sharma was appointed the new chief Lokayukta of the Chattisgarh. Sharma will head the Chhattisgarh Lok Ayog, set up to deal with corruption cases against public servants. Sharma, the state's fourth chief Lokayukta, will succeed Justice (retired) Shambhu Nath Shrivastava, who was appointed to the post on August 14, 2013.

Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet at a defence show in Tehran. The fighter jet called Kowsar is capable of carrying various weapons and will be used for short aerial support missions. It is a fourth-generation fighter, with "advanced avionics" and multi-purpose radar. The new fighter jet has passed all tests.

Serena Williams (with earnings of $18.1 million) was the highest paid female athlete for a third consecutive year in 2018, according to "List Of Highest Paid Female Athletes 2018" published by Forbes. Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who captured her maiden grand slam title at Australian Open 2018, was second on the list with combined earnings of ($13 million). Indian badminton player P.V. Sindhu was at seventh place with earnings of $8.5 million.

The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India's next indigenous fighter, is expected to make its first flight by 2032.The aircraft will have a low radar cross-section, making it difficult for the enemy to spot it. This is India's only fifth generation aircraft programme. The AMCA will feature geometric stealth and will initially fly with two GE-414 engines.

The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) commenced at Subang Air Base in Malaysia. India has been eyeing a foothold at the strategically important Subang Air Base. The main aim of the exercise seeks to deepen defence and military ties between the two countries.

With earnings of $8.5 million (nearly ₹60 crore), Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu is the only Indian to feature in Forbes list of top 10 highest-paid female athletes of 2018. Placed seventh, Sindhu is the only badminton player in the list, which features eight tennis players and one race car driver- Danica Patrick. Twenty-three-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams tops the list, with $18.1-million total earnings.

Indian shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the 18th Asian Games on 21st August, 2018. China won the gold medal with a score of 453.3 while Japan bagged the bronze medal with 441.4. Rajput had won the gold medal at the 50m rifle 3 positions in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018.

Eastern and the Southern States such as Manipur and Telangana lead the way in internet banking according to the annual FIBAC productivity report FIBAC productivity report has been published by the Boston Consulting Group, FICCI and Indian Banks' Association. In Telangana, 21.7% of the savings banks accounts carried out the financial transaction through internet banking.