Current Affairs - August 17, 2019 Current Affairs

Bajrang Punia awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2019. It is the highest country award in India. Bajrang Punia is set to be awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2019.The country's highest sporting honour. Punia will be rewarded with the award for his consistent showing in the field of wrestling. His contribution in bringing laurels to the country. Punia along with Vinesh Phogat was recommended by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the prestigious award.

Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, inaugurated a high-performance hockey centre Naval Tata Hockey Academy (NTHA) The main aim is to groom sports talent in the state. The newly opened centre will produce young Olympians. Tata Steel CEO and MD, T.V. Narendran present during the inauguration function. Tata Steel has always supported and encouraged sports as a vocation and a career. It is always our effort to nurture sporting talent by providing access to state-of-the-art sports facilities and rigorous training.

Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik launched online revenue payment. The main aim is to provide people with an easier way to make their land revenue payments-online on 73rd Independence Day on August 15, 2019, at Bhubaneswar. This online payment system was developed at the National Informatics Centre- Bhubaneswar, Odisha. This is an initiative of the State revenue department of Odisha under the "5-T mantra". The 5T mantras are based on Technology, Transparency, Team work, Time and Transformation.

For the first time, a team of Researchers led by Ramaprabhu Sundara at Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Madras has fabricated a rechargeable iron ion battery designed using mild steel as the anode. The rechargeable iron ion battery is cost-effective and it will store a high amount of energy in the battery & also displayed good stability with 54% capacity retention at the end of 50 cycles. Vanadium pentoxide is used as the cathode in Iron ion battery & it was chosen as it has a layered structure with very large spacing between the layers. Lithium ions are the charge carriers in lithium-ion battery, the Fe2+ ions perform that function in the case of iron ion battery. This is a significant achievement because lithium-ion batteries are widely in use as of now. But, the lithium reserves are limited when compared to iron reserves.

Ministry of Railways and Commerce & Industry launched Commando for Railway Security (CORAS) of Indian Railways. It was launched by Shri Piyush Goyal. He also launched a new establishment manual for Railway Protection Force (RPF). The induction of CORAS was planned in RPF. The Ministry also plans to install a new network of CCTV cameras at every station. It will be set up to enhance the security of Railway passengers.

Denmark's third-largest bank Jyske Bank launched the world's first negative interest rate mortgage. The bank handling out loans to homeowners where the charge is minus 0.5% a year. It has begun offering borrowers a 10-year deal at -0.5%. Jyske bank borrowers will make a monthly repayment, as usual, The amount still outstanding will be reduced each month by more than the borrower.

Since 2011, World Education Summits have witnessed the confluence of decision makers, influential experts and practitioners linked to education sector from across the world. The summit aims to explore groundbreaking innovations and encourage steps to ensure significant improvements in the global education sector.

Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) granted full membership in the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). This is done by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on August 13, 2019. The association inducted as a member association. It is the full member with amendments that are required to be communicated by CoA. This membership grant brought an end to long-standing dispute among Uttarakhand Cricket Association(UKCA), United Cricket Association ( UTCA), Uttaranchal Cricket Association (UCA) and the CAU vying for BCCI affiliation.

Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) stated that world-class Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) will be set up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in association with Tata Educational and Development Trust (TEDT) aimed at scaling up of skill training enabling the young generation to acquire skills at par with global standards. The Government has provided 4.5 acres of land for the project, which will be executed on a Public-Private Partnership (P-P-P)basis, where the TEDT will invest around Rs. 300 crore for the construction of IIS ,which will have a capacity to train 10,000 trainees in various areas including security, aerospace, iron and natural gas.

The McMahon Line is a demarcation line drawn on map referred to in the Simla Convention, a treaty between Britain and Tibet signed in 1914. Although its legal status is disputed, it is currently the effective boundary between China and India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in his sixth consecutive Independence Day speech. The Chief of Defence Staff will help integrate all three services - the Indian Army, the Air Force and the Indian Navy.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jalandhar (Punjab) researchers have developed a process by which bone implant materials can be synthesized from eggshells which are dumped as waste. The team synthesized nanopowder, which is a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a single human hair, from the eggshells, which are made of largely calcium-containing minerals (95.1%) along with small amounts of proteins and water. This will help people, who are affected in using synthetic chemicals as bone replacement materials because of the presence of chemical residues. Plaster of Paris is commonly used by people to heal bone defects but it is highly toxic.

India won the T20 Physical Disability (PD) World Cricket Series 2019 after defeating England by 36 runs in the final held at the New Road Stadium in Worcester, England. The tournament was organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). 6 teams- India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, England, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe had participated in the tournament. The Indian team had scored 180/7 in the first innings, while England could only score 144/9. The team was coached by former Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni.

The Fifty Six Border Security Force (BSF)officials announced for conferring the Police Medals on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day, 2019. The five of them would confer with Police Medal for Gallantry for Distinguished Service.

Verghese Kurien is known as the 'Father of the White Revolution' in India. He was also known as Milkman of india.

The Ghadar Party was an Indian revolutionary organisation primarily founded by Indians. The party was multi-ethnic and had Sikh, Hindu and Muslim leaders. The party was headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Founders: Har Dayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Santokh Singh, Sant Baba Wasakha Singh Dadehar, Baba Jawala Singh.

India's first private Space Science Museum has opened in Hyderabad to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute (BACRI). It is a collaborative effort between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the B M Birla Science Centre. The ISRO on its part is providing some 65 models of various spacecrafts, satellites and rockets of varying sizes. This museum exhibits scale models of Indian Launch vehicles GSLV Mark III, GSLV Mark II and PSLV, Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter spacecraft, APPLE, Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Rohini RS-1 and a model of the International Space Station (ISS). Presently, 24 exhibits are on display to encourage young minds to explore Space Science and Technology.

Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2019 (SSG 2019) The scheme instituted from August 14 to September 30, 2019. Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2019 SSG 2019 will cover 17,450 villages in 698 districts across India. It includes 87,250 public places namely schools, Anganwadi centers, public health centers, haat/bazaars/religious places. Around 2,50,000 citizens will be interviewed for the survey.

Ministry of textiles and a total of 16 states from the country have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a function in New Delhi to take project Samarth- which is Scheme for Capacity Building In Textile Sector (SCBTS) to impart skill based training to workers. A total of 18 states were initially planned to partner with the textile ministry. But Odisha and Jammu & Kashmir were not present during the function.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the 'Village Volunteers System' to provide services at doorstep of people. The system was launched on the occasion of Independence Day.

The researchers from IIT Madras have developed a multi-modal robot 'GraspMan' with good grasping, manipulation and locomotion abilities for use in industrial and field applications. The GraspMan is consists of a pair of graspers, which provide morphological adaptation. It will enable to conform to the geometry of the object being grasped. This allows the grasper to hold objects securely and manipulate it much like the human hand. The motivation behind this research is to realize a robot with a minimalistic design that can overcome the need for task-specific robots that are capable of navigating and manipulating across different environments without increasing the system complexity.

Harshad Pandurang Thakur has been appointed as the director of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare. The proposal of appointment was approved by the appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister. The NIHFW is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It acts as an apex technical institute as well as a think tank for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country.

Japanese Ship, JS Sazanami, the fourth vessel of the Takanami class destroyers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commanded by Commander Shoji Ishkawa visited Kochi on a 2-day goodwill visit from August 13 to 19, 2019. Activities such as the visit of Indian Navy personnel onboard JS Sazanami and professional interaction between the two navies were conducted during the visit. The visiting team was also provided with a conducted tour of the Anti-Submarine Warfare School and the Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel, INS (Indian Navy Ship ) Sunayna. Shoji Ishkawa was accompanied by Koichiro Maeda , Coast Guard Superintendent, Commanding Officer of the Somalia Dispatch Team of the Japanese Coast Guard, and Captain Taiko Eda, Resident Defence Attache of Japan at New Delhi, paid a visit with Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

Fifth BRICS Minister of Environment Meeting held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is preceded by the 2-day meeting of BRICS Joint Working Group on Environment. The Indian delegation led by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar. Prakash Javadekar stated that India achieved its Nationally Determined Contributions(NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, reduction of energy intensity by 25 %, increment of forest cover by nearly 15,000 sq km Swachh Bharat Mission initiative, Waste Management Rules. The initiatives of BRICS countries and reaffirmed India's support to BRICS cooperation.

Gandhi feared that the movement might lead to popular violence. The non-cooperation movement was launched on 1 August 1920 and withdrawn in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident.