Latest Current Affairs – August 22 & 23 2018
1. Satya Pal Malik sworn in as 13th Jammu and Kashmir Governor
Satya Pal Malik was sworn in as the 13th Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Malik, who had quit the Congress in 1987 and joined BJP in 2004, was previously the Governor of Bihar. He has replaced NN Vohra, who was given a two-month extension after completing 10 years as J&K Governor.
2. Indian men miss out on Kabaddi gold at Asiad for first time
The Indian Men’s Kabaddi team missed out on winning the gold medal for the first time in the history of the Asian Games after suffering an 18-27 defeat against Iran in their semi-final. The men’s team, which has won all the gold medals since Kabaddi’s inclusion in the 1990 Asian Games, won the bronze medal.
3. Reliance becomes 1st Indian company to hit ₹8 trillion m-cap
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) became the first Indian company to hit ₹8 trillion or ₹8 lakh crore in market capitalisation after its stock rallied 1.31% to hit a record high of ₹1262.50. This comes after TRAI data showed that Reliance Jio continued to add more subscribers. Notably, Reliance Industries shares have surged nearly 37% this year.
4. Ankita 2nd Indian to win women’s singles tennis Asiad medal
Ankita Raina has become the second Indian woman after Sania Mirza to win a medal in the women’s singles event at Asian Games. Raina won bronze medal after losing 4-6, 6-7 to world number 34 Zhang Shuai in the semi-finals. Mirza had won women’s singles silver medal in the 2006 edition and a bronze in the 2010 edition.
5. Arun Jaitley returns as Finance Minister after kidney transplant
Arun Jaitley has resumed charge as the Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate Affairs after taking a break for three months to undergo a kidney transplant. In Jaitley’s absence, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal held additional charges of his ministry. His return comes amid Indian rupee’s slump, which went past 70 against the dollar earlier this month.
6. Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar passes away aged 95
Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar passed away at the age of 95 in a Delhi hospital. He had started his career in Urdu journalism and later served as the Editor of The Indian Express. He is also the author of 15 books including ‘Emergency Retold’, ‘India after Nehru’ and ‘Beyond the Lines’.
7. US imposes anti-dumping duty on metal pipes made in India
The US has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on metal pipes imported from India, China, Canada and three other countries. India has been slapped with an anti-dumping duty of 50.55% while China will face 132% duties. At $295 million, India is the only country on the list that had greater exports of the pipe to the US last year than Canada.
8. International Day of Remembrance and tribute to the Victims of Terrorism is observed on 21 August
This day is observed in order to commemorate the core values of the United Nations and is an indiscriminate threat that affects people and countries across the globe.
9. Ambani’s Reliance Jio tops Fortune’s ‘Change the World’ list
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.
10. VVS Laxman wrote down his autobiography titled ‘281 and Beyond’
The autobiography will be released by the Westland Publications on November 20, 2018. Indian cricketer VVS Laxman who announced his retirement from international cricket in 2012, played 134 Tests, scoring 8,781 runs at an average of 45.97. He also played in 86 ODIs for an aggregate of 2338 and average of 30.76 in the shorter format.
11. Shane Warne autobiography No Spin to be released in October
Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s autobiography “No Spin” will have a global release on October 4. The memoir is written with cricketer and TV presenter Mark Nicholas.
Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and took over 1,000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals). He also captained the Rajasthan Royals to victory in the IPL in 2008. He officially retired from all cricket formats in 2013.
12. Retd Judge TP Sharma appointed as New chief of Chhattisgarh Lokayukta
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. Sharma previously holds the post of Chairman, Chhattisgarh Law Commission.
13. PV Sindhu only Indian in Forbes’ list of top paid female athletes 2018
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.
14. Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet named ‘Kowsar’
The aircraft is nicknamed ‘Kowsar’, which in Islam is a river in paradise and also the title of a chapter in the Koran. This defence programme was motivated by repeated threats from Israel and the US. Iran celebrates National Defence Industry Day on August 22.
15. First-ever IAF-RMAF joint air exercise begins in Malaysia
This is the inaugural bilateral exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and the the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).
It was inaugurated by Gp Capt CUV Rao, team leader IAF & Col Mahadzer, Ex director of RMAF. It is the first ever bilateral exercise launching two Sukhoi Su-30MKM and Su-30MKI Flankers each from Subang airport.
16. President Ram Nath Kovind appoints 7 New Governors
President Ram Nath Kovind appointed governors for seven states — Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Tripura.
Here is the list of new governors
- Satya Pal Malik – Jammu & Kashmir (Replaced NN Vohra)
- Tathagata Roy – Meghalaya (Replaced Ganga Prasad)
- Lalji Tandon – Bihar (Replaced Satya Pal Malik)
- Ganga Prasad – Sikkim (Replaced Shriniwas Patil)
- Kaptan Singh Solanki -Tripura (Replaced Tathagata Roy)
- Satyadev Narayan Arya – Haryana (Replaced Kaptan Singh Solanki)
- Baby Rani Maurya – Uttarakhand (Replaced K K Paul)
17. PM Narendra Modi to launch India Post Payments Bank on September 1
The launch of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was recently rescheduled in the wake of seven-day national mourning declared after the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. IPPB has permission to link around 17-crore postal savings bank (PSB) accounts with its account.
18. Bengalurus Kempegowda International Airport is World’s second fastest growing airport
As per the RoutesOnline company report, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Bengaluru is next to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport which is the world’s fastest growing airport, in terms of actual growth in number of passengers.
KIA opened in May 2008 was initially named Bangalore International Airport. The Government of India has granted Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to operate KIA airport for 30 years.
19. Government to set up Cyclone Warning Centre in Kerala
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has proposed to set up a Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC) in Thiruvananthapuram following unprecedented flooding in Kerala.
The Ministry is also planning to set up another C-Band Doppler Weather Radar at Mangalore by end of 2019, which will cover the northern parts of Kerala.
At present, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has cyclone warning centres only at Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
20. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat passes away at 63
Gurudas Kamat who was an advocate by profession, was also served as Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology. Kamat was a Member of Parliament for the Mumbai North-West constituency in 2009 and the Mumbai North East constituency in 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2004.
21. Fourth BIMSTEC summit to be held on 30th and 31st of this month in Nepalese capital Kathmandu
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will be held at Kathmandu in Nepal on August 30 and 31.
BIMSTEC is a regional economic bloc comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. The group was formed in 1997. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka Myanmar and Thailand.
22. Government unveils draft UDAN scheme for international route
The objective of the UDAN International scheme is to enhance international air connectivity between Indian states and select international destinations through the provision of financial support to airlines.
Under the scheme, the state governments will be responsible for funding the financial benefits. The Assam government has committed to fund the subsidy amount of Rs 100 crore per annum for three years.
Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme was launched in 2016 to provide affordable air travel at Rs 2,500 per hour of flight for people through subsidised ticket rates and to provide air connectivity to smaller towns.
23. Asian Games 2018: Rahi Sarnobat Indian Female Shooter to win Asiad Gold
She is the first ever Indian female shooter to win gold in the history of Asian Games. India won two gold medals in shooting at the Asian Games 2018. Bhin Bhin, Kaka, and Atung are the mascots of the 2018 Asian Games.
24. Center imposes curbs on import of biofuels
Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed restrictions on the import of biofuels through an amendment in the import policy. The bio-fuels include ethyl alcohol and other denatured spirits, biodiesel, petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals other than crude. The free import of biofuels is now made available only for non-fuel purposes.
The Cabinet had approved the National Policy on Biofuels in May 2018, which allowed doping of ethanol produced from damaged food grains, rotten potatoes, corn and sugar beet with petrol. The government claimed that the move will cut oil imports by Rs.4,000 crore in 2018 alone. It then reiterated its plan to invest Rs.10,000 crore to build 12 biofuel refineries by 2022 which will help it save Rs 12,000 crore of import bills.
25. David Beckham To Receive 2018 UEFA President’s Award
He is the third Englishman to receive the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President’s Award. It is an annual continental club football competition organized by the UEFA.
26. Agreements for 5 projects on interlinking of rivers nearing completion
Union Minister for Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari announced that, a total of 47 proposals for river interlinking projects have been received so far from nine state governments – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
Five projects of river interlinking are:
♦ Ken-Betwa link project,
♦ Damanganga-Pinjal link project,
♦ Par-Tapi-Narmada link project,
♦ Godavari-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link project and
♦ Parvati-Kali Sindhu-Chambal link.
Gadkari urged state governments to speed up the process of signing agreements so work could begin on the river interlinking projects.
