Current Affairs - August 29, 2018 Current Affairs

At the fourth 'Google for India' event, Google has unveiled Project Navlekha to help Indian language publishers take their content online. Navlekha is a word derived from Sanskrit meaning 'a new way to write'. The new platform will allow 1.35 lakh Indian publishers to digitise their offline content by creating instant web pages using scanned documents or PDFs.

SpiceJet would fly India's first biofuel-powered flight from Dehradun to Delhi on its Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft from Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport. It has used a blend of the aviation turbine fuel and biofuel to power the flight. The flight had 20 people, including officials from aviation regulator DGCA and SpiceJet and was around 25 minutes. It would encourage sustainable and alternative fuels for the transportation & aviation sector under National Biofuels Policy. With this test, India will be among the first developing nations to adopt the sustainable alternative jet fuel.

The National Sports Day in India is celebrated on 29 August each year. This day marks the birthday of Dhyan Chand Singh, the hockey player who 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.

NASA's OSIRIS-Rex (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer), an asteroid sampling spacecraft, caught its first image of asteroid Bennu, last week after a 2-year journey. OSIRIS-Rex has started its final approach towards its target asteroid Bennu. The mission's asteroid operations started on 17thAugust. OSIRIS-Rex's PolyCam camera secured the image from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km).

126 MW wind power capacity, part of country's first Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) auction, is commissioned in Bhuj, Gujarat. The energy generated from this project is being purchased by Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. This was a 1,000 MW bid for projects to be connected on ISTS (inter-state transmission system) wherein power generated from one state (renewable resource rich state) could be transmitted to other renewable deficient states.

The scientists have developed the smallest medical robot and set a new Guinness World Record. The device, which is of 120 nanometres in size, can interact with biological cells. These nanocomposite particles can assist to treat cancer and Alzheimer's in the future and one day it might lead to huge medical advancements. The nanocomposites are made of two different types of multifunctional oxide materials in a "core and shell" configuration. The core is magnetic and changes shape in response to magnetic fields. The ferroelectric shell converts pressure into electric potentials. The magneto-elasto-electric coupled effect in the nanocomposites acts as arms and legs that move the nanoparticle around to interact with targeted biological cells.

Goldman Sachs appointed Prachi Mishra as the managing director and chief India economist. Prachi Mishra will be based in Mumbai. Earlier, she was the deputy division chief of the western hemisphere department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She was the head of the strategic research unit at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from February 2016 to May 2017. She was also a specialist adviser at the RBI between November 2014 and February 2016. She was the first lateral recruit at the RBI. She also worked as a senior economist at IMF and the Finance Ministry of India.

EU-India joined hands to develop new Influenza vaccine. They have committed EUR 15 million each to fund for this cause through the "Horizon 2020" programme. Indian government and the European Union (EU) partnered for Rs. 240 crore research programme to develop a Next Generation Influenza Vaccine to protect people throughout the world. About EU The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq millions) and an estimated population of over 510 million.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has inaugurated India's tallest Film Studio named 'MGR Centenary Film Studio'. The 56 feet tall, 110 metres long and 100 feet wide studio was constructed using funds collected by the Federation of Film Employees Union of South India (FEFSI), at Paiyanur. The studio is named after former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.

The Odisha government has launched a programme "Mu Hero, Mu Odisha" (I am Hero-I am Odisha)" to identify and to give recognition to the young achievers of the state. The initiative is to be conducted by the Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) members.

India's Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Jadhav won silver and bronze respectively in 52 Kg category Kurash at the Asian Games 2018. Kurash is a form of wrestling indigenous to Central Asia. It combines the skills of judo and wrestling. The 19-year-old Pincky lost 0-10 to Gulnor Sulaymanova of Uzbekistan in the gold medal clash to get the silver.

Indiabulls Ventures appointed Abhaya Prasad Hota, as an independent director on the board for a period of 3 years. Abhaya Prasad Hota is a former managing director at the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). He was involved in designing the operating payments eco-system. He had worked with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 27 years. He had played a major role in launching payment systems like MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) and Aadhaar based system with UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).

Sandeep Kumar was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Ireland. Sandeep Kumar is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of the 1985 batch. Currently, he is the Ambassador of India to Croatia. He has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Ireland. He will take up this assignment soon.

Google recently partnered with HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and Federal Bank Ltd. to offer instant, pre-approved loans to customers. About Tez Release date: September 19, 2017 Tez got about 8.5 million installations. Over 30 million transactions were made on the app as of October 27, 2017.

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.

Global Finance magazine named DBS Bank as the world's best bank for digital innovation while still maintaining stable operations for its customers. It is the first Asian bank to receive the accolade. It was given to ING Bank in 2017. It also received the Asia's best bank title.