Current Affairs - August 30, 2018 Current Affairs

Indian women's team won silver medal in the compound archery team event at the 2018 Asian Games. The Indian team comprised Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. The Indian team was defeated by South Korea in the finals at the 18th Asian Games.

Dharun Ayyasamy broke the national record in the men's 400 metres hurdles to claim the silver medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta. It is India's first medal in the hurdles event since Joseph Abraham won a gold in Asian Games 2010. Qatar's Abderrahman Samba won the gold medal at the Asian Games 2018.

Sudha Singh clinched the silver in women's 3000m steeplechase event in the Asian Games in Jakarta. Bahrain won the gold medal, while Vietnam won the bronze medal. Sudha won a gold medal when women's 3000m steeplechase was introduced in the Asian Games in 2010.

Axis Securities launched commodity broking services with MCX and became the first bank subsidiary to enter the commodity broking business. Axis Securities launched commodity broking services with MCX and became the first bank subsidiary to enter the commodity broking business. These cover: industrial metals, energy and agricultural segments.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) signed an MoU on Enhancing Innovation for Clean Energy Transition. The MoU seeks to deepen co-operation in support of clean energy innovations to accelerate the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of clean energy technologies in India and will help support the generation of data for policymaking and improve knowledge of good policy practices for innovation in India and around the world.

The government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $375 million loan agreement to contribute to double farming incomes in Madhya Pradesh by expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency. The Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Efficiency Improvement Project will develop 125,000 hectares of new, highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks and improve water use efficiency in more than 400 villages, benefiting over 800,000 people in Madhya Pradesh.

The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned two new projects under Heritage and North East Circuits of Swadesh Darshan Scheme (SDS) in Punjab and Tripura. 'Swadesh Darshan' is the scheme of the Ministry of Tourism for the development of thematic circuits in the country. The first project under Swadesh Darshan Scheme 'North East Circuit: Imphal and Khongjom' was inaugurated in Manipur.

A Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel was launched at L&T Shipyard in Kattupalli in Chennai. It is the third of series of the seven offshore patrol vessels under construction by L&T Shipbuilding Ltd. The length of the OPVs is 98 metre and breadth is 14.8 metre, with gross tonnage of 2100 tonne. It will be used for surveillance along with anti-terrorist and anti-smuggling operations in exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and for coastal security.

Swapna Barman created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold in Indonesia, a feat she achieved despite a toothache. The 21-year-old Barman logged 6026 points from the seven events competed for two days. En route to the title, she won the high jump (1003 points) and javelin throw (872 points) events and finished second-best in shot put (707 points) and long jump (865 points).

The Union Government, Rajasthan and the World Bank signed a USD 250 million Development Policy Loan (DPL) to support Rajasthan in improving the performance of its Electricity Distribution Sector under the State's '24x7 Power for All' program. The loan from the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a 3 year grace period and a maturity of 21 years.

The Government of India (GoI) has constituted a 21-member committee to advise Prime Minister Narendra Modi on policy matters related to science, technology and innovation. The committee, dubbed as Prime Minister's Science Technology and Innovation Council (PM-STIAC), will be headed by K Vijay Raghavan, the principal scientific adviser to the GoI. It will facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies and decisions, provide action-oriented and future preparedness advise and assist in directing S&T to solve the socio economic problems in the country.

Australian researchers have announced that they have developed a new technique to detect early-stage cancer tumour cells in the blood through malaria protein VAR2CSA. In this method malaria protein VAR2CSA sticks to cancer cells and helps detect more number of cancer cells than before. This will help in detecting cancer at early stage. The findings were published in the journal 'Nature Communications'. Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney and the University of Copenhagen were involved in this research.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda launched the logo for flagship health insurance scheme, 'Ayushman Bharat' in New Delhi. Under 'Ayushman Bharat' more than 10 crore poor & vulnerable families will get the benefit with an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year. The health insurance scheme will be launched on Septemeber 25.

China is using robots to teach the Kindergarten children. The 60cm high, autonomous Keeko robot is an unconventional teacher. It covers things like storytelling and problem-solving. More than 600 kindergartens across the country use Keeko robots. The robot makers are hoping to expand it into Greater China and Southeast Asia. Beijing has invested money and manpower in developing artificial intelligence as part of its "Made in China 2025" plan.

the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for the umbrella scheme "Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART)" of Ministry of Earth Sciences. The scheme with an overall cost of Rs. 1623 crore encompasses a total of 16 sub-projects addressing ocean development activities such as Services, Technology, Resources, Observations and Science. The services rendered under the O-SMART will provide economic benefits to a number of user communities in the coastal and ocean sectors, namely, fisheries, offshore industry, coastal states, Defence, Shipping, Ports etc. This scheme also provides necessary scientific and technological background required for implementation of various aspects of Blue Economy.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will outsource the production of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) to private Industries. The Indian Space agency Chairman K Sivan informed that private industries will play a major role in capacity building. The ISRO will launch Gaganyaan, India's first manned mission to outer space in 2020. As per the announcement, the Indian Air Force will identify six persons who can be trained to be astronauts. The assistance of the country's first astronaut Rakesh Sharma and that of foreign space agencies will be sought for the training of astronauts.