Current Affairs - August 28, 2018 Current Affairs

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) will start operating its regional centre on the campus of Wetland Research and Training Centre near Chilika Lake in Odisha. BNHS is India's premier avian research institutes. The centre will carry out research on the avian disease by collecting samples and monitor the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary.

Aamir Khan will be part of Maharashtra Government's Mission Shakti' initiative to groom sportspersons with medal-winning potential for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympiad. 'Mission Shakti' will target sports like weight-lifting, archery, shooting, swimming, athletics, volleyball and gymnastics, with excellence in physical endurance, fitness, superior stamina and other features included in a rigorous selection test.

Scotland has become the world's first country to provide free sanitary products to all students in a bid to tackle "period poverty". Scottish government approved a £5.2 million ($6.7 million) initiative that will make sanitary products free at all schools, colleges and universities. Nearly 4 lakh pupils and students are expected to benefit from the Scottish government's scheme. One UNESCO report estimates that one in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa miss 20 percent of the school year because of their period.

The government announced that industries including real estate, power and agriculture will be able to legally fly remotely piloted aircraft or drones in the country for commercial purposes from December 1, when the 'Digital Sky' platform will become operative. The Digital Sky platform will be a first national unmanned traffic management platform that implements 'no permission, no takeoff' for remotely piloted aircraft. Initially, drones will be allowed only along visual line-of-sight during day-time with a maximum altitude of 400 feet. The usage of drones for delivering goods and food items has been restricted.

Pakistan government has banned the VIP protocol given by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to influential people at airports. The VIP protocol was given to politicians, legislators, senior bureaucrats, judges, military officials and journalists. The decision came into effect on 26th August. The Interior Ministry said that the ban will be strictly implemented to provide equal opportunities to all travellers. It also warned that in case any FIA official is caught giving protocol to a VIP, he would face strict action.

World number three PV Sindhu lost to world number one Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) in the women's singles final to bag India's first-ever silver medal in badminton at Asian Games. Sindhu, playing in her fifth final of 2018, lost the match with a scoreline of 13-21, 16-21. Saina Nehwal had won bronze medal in the event.

Neeraj Chopra became the first-ever Indian javelin thrower to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. The 20-year-old junior world record holder hurled the javelin to a distance of 88.06m to bag the Asiad gold.

Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to win an individual medal in the equestrian event at the Asian Games in Jakarta on 26th August 2018. He won the silver medal in the Eventing competition, while Japan won the gold medal. The last individual medal in Eventing competition, however, came in 1982.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E.Palanisamy launched an app and a website on plastic pollution free Tamilnadu. He inaugurated a campaign to highlight the impact of plastic pollution. He appointed actor Vivek as the brand ambassador of the project.

The National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) has introduced a helpline to encourage consumers to resolve all the queries to file complaints against the companies that are not passing GST rate cut benefits. Since the rollout of GST on July 1, 2017, the GST Council has cut tax rates on several occasions on a number of items. The helpline number is 011-21400643. It will guide the consumers to register their complaints, provide information and resolve queries related to profiteering under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law. NAA said that the consumers can call the helpline number between 9.30 am to 1 pm and 1.30 pm to 6 pm on all working days.

North Korea announced that it would be the host for the 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships that will commence from October 27, 2019. The Asian Weightlifting Federation and North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk signed an agreement for the championship to be held in capital Pyongyang. Earlier in September 2013, the Asian Cup and Interclub Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championship was held in North Korea.

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.

Former India opener Lalchand Rajput was appointed the head coach of Zimbabwe national cricket team by the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC). He is likely to remain in charge for the 2020 World T20 and beyond. He was earlier appointed as the interim head coach of Zimbabwe in May. He has been the manager of the MS Dhoni-led Indian team during the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.

Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed an MoU with six states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna basin to deal with water crisis. Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Vasundhara Raje Scindia), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar) and Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) signed the MoU. Under the agreement, the 204-metres high project will be constructed near Uttarakhand's Lohari village with live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metres (MCM). The total project is worth Rs 3,966.51 crore.

The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was held in Salta, Argentina. It took place as part of Sherpa Track for 2018 G20 Leaders' Summit, which is to be hosted by Argentina by end of 2018. The theme of the meeting was 'Building consensus for fair and sustainable development'. Its three key issues for the agenda 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.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) along with National e-Governance Division has developed 'Parinam Manjusha', digital academic repository, to provide digital mark sheets, migration certificates and pass certificates to students from CBSE-affiliated schools in Kerala, whose board exam academic documents have been lost or damaged in the recent floods. This academic repository has been integrated with DigiLocker. Over 1,300 schools are affiliated to the CBSE in Kerala. The digital academic documents are digitally signed by the Controller of Examinations of CBSE which make them legally valid digital document as per the IT Act. These documents are also having QR codes and such documents can be verified for the authenticity using the DigiLocker mobile app. The students are asked to visit https://digitallocker.gov.in and https://digitallocker.gov.in and download their academic documents using the login-id / password.

Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh, unveiled the corporate sports policy for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) under the Ministry of Steel. The policy will provide a framework for promotion of sports by Steel Ministry CPSEs. Steel CPSEs will allocate a specific budget for sports activities, as per their financial strength, and this budget will be separate from the company's CSR funds.