Read August (third- week) weekly current affairs

1. Maharashtra Government has appointed

actor Raveena Tandon as the brand
ambassador of Mumbai based Sanjay
Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

2.  National Green Tribunal (NGT) has

appointed retired judge S J Vazifdar as
head of a three-member committee to
decide mining company Vedanta’s plea
challenging closure of its Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin.

3.  ASSOCHAM appointed former bureaucrat Uday Kumar Varma as

its new Secretary General.

4.  G Satheesh Reddy has been appointed as the chairman of DRDO

for a two-year term. He has also been appointed Secretary, Department
of Defence R&D.

5. Scott Morrison was sworn in as Australia’s 30th prime minister.

6. Indian expert Satya S. Tripathi was appointed assistant secretary

general of United Nations and will head New York office of UN
Environment Programme (UNEP).

7. Replacing Scientific Advisory Committee to Prime Minister and to Cabinet,

the government has constituted new 21-member advisory panel on
science, technology and innovation called Prime Minister’s Science,
Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) headed by
Principal Scientific Advisor to government K Vijay Raghavan.

8.  Indiabulls Ventures appointed Abhaya Prasad Hota, as an

independent director on the board for a period of 3 years.

9. Goldman Sachs appointed Prachi Mishra as the managing director

and chief India economist.

10.  Punjab National Bank (PNB’s) managing director and chief

executive, Sunil Mehta was elected as new chairman of Indian Banks
Association (IBA) for a year.

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1. Former President Pranab Mukherjee

launched National Electoral Transformation
(NETA) mobile application that allows voters to
rate and review their political representatives.

2.  Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

launched Mu Hero, Mu Odisha” (I am Hero-I
am Odisha) programme aimed at identifying
and giving recognition to the young achievers of the state.

3.  NITI Aayog has released five Thematic Reports on Sustainable

Development in Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). These areas were
Inventory and Revival of Springs in the Himalayas for Water Security,
Sustainable Tourism in Indian Himalayan Region, Transformative Approach
to Shifting Cultivation, Strengthening Skill & Entrepreneurship Landscape in
Himalayas and Data and Information for Informed Decision Making.

4. Central Government along with Government of Rajasthan has signed

$250 million loan agreement with World Bank (IBRD) for Electricity
Distribution Sector Reforms in Rajasthan.

5. Search engine giant Google has unveiled “Project Navlekha” to

make online content relevant for more Indian users, especially in local
languages.

6.  India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and EU have

committed Euro 15 million (Rs. 240) crores for research programme
named Horizon 2020 to develop Next Generation Influenza Vaccine to
protect citizens across the globe.

7. The government has approved umbrella scheme “Ocean Services,

Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-
SMART)”, for implementation during the period from 2017-18 to 2019-
20 at an overall cost of Rs.1623 crore.

8.  Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)

has released National Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and
Forest Degradation (REDD+) strategy for India. It aims to achieve
climate change mitigation by incentivizing forest conservation.

9.  Germany has announced to provide a soft loan of euro 120

million (Rs. 990 crores approximately) to India to strengthen
sewage water treatment infrastructure in Uttarakhand in an effort to
clean River Ganga under Clean Ganga Mission.

10. Also, German development agency GIZ  has prepared ‘Ganga

Box’ aimed to target school-going children and inform them about the river.
Similarly “Ganga Book” on the lines of Danube book has also been
prepared.

11. HRD ministry has introduced Atal Ranking of Institutions on

Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) to systematically rank education
institutions and universities primarily on innovation-related indicators.
ARIIA aims to promote a culture of innovation and research in higher
education. 

12. Giriraj Singh announced the launch of ‘One District One Product’

scheme in Odisha at a function of the SC-ST State Conclave cum
Exhibition under National SC-ST Hub. The scheme has been earlier launched
in UP as well.

13.  Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh launched PUDA360

module to facilitate online property transactions.

1. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank announced

the launch of its overdraft facility for micro
and small enterprises (MSE) with a turnover
of Rs 50 lakhs or more.

2.  ICICI Bank  has agreed to a multi-year

partnership with Manchester United,
bringing a range of competitive co-branded
credit and debit card to the club’s 35 million Indian followers.

3.  The Union Cabinet has approved additional funding of Rs 635

crores India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), which was launched on
September 1 to provide financial services to those living in rural areas. It will
take the total outlay for IPPB to Rs 1,435 crore.
4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a package of $245
million to implement a project for providing safe, sustainable
drinking water services in West Bengal.

5. According to a report of Department of Financial Services, Punjab

National Bank has been rated as number one state-owned bank in
terms of digital transactions. It was ranked sixth among all banks in
digital performance.

6. Owing to rise in oil prices and moderate growth in exports, the current
account deficit of the country will rise to 2.8% of the GDP in the
current financial year as per the report “Ecowrap” published by
SBI.

7. Global Finance magazine named DBS Bank as the world’s best

bank for digital innovation while still maintaining stable operations for its
customers.

8. India has inked a $346 million loan agreement with Asian

Development Bank (ADB) to finance Karnataka State Highways
Improvement III Project (KSHIP-III) for improvement of over 400 km of
state highways in Karnataka.

9.  Axis Securities launched commodity broking services with MCX

and became the first bank subsidiary to enter the commodity broking
business.

10. HDFC Bank has announced that it will adopt 30 villages in flood-

hit Kerala as part of its long-term relief and rehabilitation efforts.

11. Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) announced its tie-up with HDFC Ergo
general insurance company.

1.  The World Bank launched the world’s first

public blockchain bond named bond-i
created, allocated, transferred and managed by
using blockchain technology.

2.  Moody’s Investor services report called

Global Macro Outlook for 2018-19 has
predicted that the Indian economy will grow by
around 7.5 percent in 2018 and 2019.

3. Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, announced the launch

of Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI) exclusively for start-ups in
chip design.
4.  Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje launched India’s
largest Business Incubator “Bhamashah Techno Hub” In Jaipur.

5.  Flipkart unveiled a dedicated portal ‘2Gud ‘for refurbished goods,

including mobile phones, laptops, and tablets.

6. Recently Reliance Industries (RIL) became the first Indian

company to cross Rs 8 lakh crores market capitalization.

7.  Paytm has launched “Paytm AI Cloud for India” for developers,
start-ups, and enterprises in partnership with Alibaba, a global tech giant.

8.  National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) report for

2018-19, India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal is at 7.4
percent.

9.  Idea Cellular and Vodafone completed their merger of India

operations. This deal is valued at roughly a $23 billion (roughly Rs. 1.6
lakh crores).

10.  Amazon announced that Amazon Pay, the payments arm of

Amazon India, will acquire Sequoia-backed Tapzo. The deal valued at
about $35-40 million.

1. Reliance Jio has topped the fortune’s 4th

annual ‘Change the World’ List 2018.

2.  Asia Society, a global cultural organization

announced that PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi
will be honored with the Game Changer of
the Year title of the 2018 Asia Game Changer
Awards.

3.  In the UEFA Awards, Croatia captain Luka Modric was voted the
best player in Europe. He also won the Midfielder of the Season.

4. Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das received Bharatiya Manavata Vikas

Puraskar given by Daily India Media.

5. Ulka Mahajan was conferred Praful Bidwai memorial award 2018.

1. “International Buddhist Conclave (IBC),

2018” was inaugurated by President Ram Nath
Kovind recently at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
The theme of this conclave is: “Buddha Path –
The Living Heritage” and this year partner
country for IBC 2018 was Japan.

2. Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) along with NITI Aayog
organized India Banking Conclave (IBC) 2018 in New Delhi.

3.  The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was held in Salta,

Argentina. The theme of the meeting was ‘Building consensus for fair and
sustainable development‘.

4. The 9th edition of Mountain Echoes Literary Festival 2018 was held
in Thimphu, Bhutan.

5. Inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj the third

edition of Indian Ocean Conference was held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

6. The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force and
the Royal Malaysian Air Force commenced at Subang Air Base in
Malaysia.

7. The fourth edition of Asian electoral stakeholders forum (AESF-IV)

was held Colombo, Sri Lanka to discuss the state of elections and
democracy in the region.

Theme: ‘Advancing Election Transparency and Integrity: Promoting and

Defending Democracy Together ‘.

8. The sixth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Trade Ministers’ Meeting was held in Singapore. The Indian delegation
was led by Union Minister of Commerce Suresh Prabhu.

9. Jharkhand government held the International water-colour

festival at the Audrey House in the capital city of Ranchi.

10. Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has

organized the third edition of Smart India Hackathon 2019 (SIH-
2019).

11. The first South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

(SAARC) Agri Cooperative Business Forum was held in Kathmandu,
Nepal.

Theme: ‘Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers’ Cooperatives to

attain the Sustainable-Development-Goals-1 and 2 in South Asia’.

12. Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri has reached Port of Darwin,

Australia to participate in multilateral regional maritime exercise
"KAKADU 2018" conducted by Australia.

14. Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition: August 23, 2018
15. International Day against Nuclear Tests: August 29,  2018.

16. National Sports Day: August 29,  2018

17.  International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances: August

30, 2018 

1. AAI has allowed Tribal Cooperative

Marketing Development Federation of India
Limited (TRIFED) to open Tribes India
outlets at Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Udaipur
(Rajasthan) and Kolkata (West Bengal)
airports.

2. Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International

Airport secured the second spot and Delhi’s Indira Gandhi
International Airport was ranked sixth among the fastest growing
airport in the world during January to June this year as per a survey done
by Routes online. Tokyo’s Haneda Airport was ranked first.

3. President Ram Nath Kovind recently appointed governors of seven

states. New governors are:

J&K: Satya Pal Malik, Bihar: Lal Ji Tandon, Sikkim: Ganga Prasad,
Meghalaya: Tathagata Roy, Tripura: Kaptan Singh Solanki, Haryana:
Satyadev Narayan Arya, Uttarakhand: Baby Rani Maurya.

4. Upcoming Bundelkhand Expressway would be named as ‘Atal

Path’ to honor former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.\

5. According to Indian -Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-

In) data maximum percentage (35%) of cyber-attacks on Indian
websites is from China.

6. The 5G steering committee chaired by Paul Raj submitted its

recommendations to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).

7. 126 MW wind power capacity, part of India’s first inter-state

transmission system (ISTS) auction, was commissioned in Bhuj,
Gujarat.

8. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), will start operating its
first regional on the campus of Wetland Research and Training
Centre near Chilika Lake (Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon),
Odisha.

9. India’s first flight using biofuel (from Jetropha seeds) was

recently conducted from Dehradun to Delhi. The first ever biofuel test
flight was conducted by SpiceJet in it’s Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft.

10. In an analysis titled “ The Urban Commute” by Centre for Science

and Environment (CSE) Bhopal has got the top spot for lowest
overall emission and energy use from urban commute. On the other hand,
Delhi ranked last in overall emission and fuel use.

Kolkata and Mumbai are among the mega cities which emit least
due to high usage of public transport and walking.

11. Written by Doordarshan producer, senior journalist Brijendra Rehi,

“Atal Ji Ne Kaha” a book on former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

12. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) unveiled details of

its first indigenous human space mission dubbed as “Gaganyaan" to
be launched in 2022.

13. Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed a MoU

with 6 states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose
project in the upper Yamuna basin.  The total project is worth Rs
3,966.51 crore.

14. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Suresh Prabhu announced

the Drone Regulations 1.0. These regulations will enable the safe,
commercial usage of drones starting December 1, 2018. It'll have
Digital Sky platform, the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic
management (UTM) platform that implements “no permission, no
takeoff” (NPNT). 

Also, Drone Task Force under the chairmanship of the Minister of

State Shri Jayant  Sinha has been set up. This will provide draft
recommendations for Drone Regulations 2.0

15. Prasar Bharati and Mizzima Media Group of Myanmar signed a

MoU for cooperation and collaboration in broadcasting and content
sharing in New Delhi.

16. Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed a bill for the creation of

three new districts namely- Pakke-Kesang, Lepa Rada and Shi Yomi, in
the state. Now AP would have 25 districts.

17. Google has rebranded its payment app Google Tez to Google

Pay to improve its growth in India to add more features.

The Vice President of India, released the Book 'Colonial Syndrome: The
Videshi Mind Set in Modern India', written by Prof. Rama Krishna Rao, in
Vishakhapattanam, Andhra Pradesh.
1. International Council on Monuments and
Sites (ICOMOS) (Headquarters: Paris (France))
which is a global monument conservation body
recently launched Kerala Heritage Rescue
Initiative to assess damage to rich cultural
and built heritage sites in flood-devastated
Kerala.

2. Wireless ‘in-body GPS’ system named “ReMix” was recently

developed by scientists that can accurately locate ingestible
implants and track tumors inside the body.

3. “Sea Prayer”, the new book of writer Khaled Hosseini was

released. It is a tribute to Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy whose body
washed upon a beach.

4. External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj inaugurated 'Panini

Language Laboratory' at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) in Mauritius.

5. NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft OSIRIS-REx has captured first

images of its target asteroid “Bennu”.

6. Russia will conduct Vostok-2018 (East-2018) military exercise.  It

will be biggest war games ever conducted by Russia since Zapad-81 (West-
81) exercise conducted by the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1981.

7. Akshay Kumar-starrer "Gold" has become the first Bollywood film

ever to release in Saudi Arabia.

1. In recognition of his remarkable career and

humanitarian efforts, English retired
footballer David Beckham will be presented
the 2018 UEFA President’s Award.

2. Ehsan Mani is the new chairman of the

Pakistan Cricket Board.

3.  India’s ace Shuttler PV Sindhu was ranked

seventh on Forbes list of highest-earning women sportspersons.

4. Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has given recognition to Kho-Kho,

India’s indigenous sport.

5. India’s women’s team pacer Jhulan Goswami has announced her

retirement from Twenty-20 Internationals (T20Is).

6. Former India opener Lalchand Rajput was appointed the head coach
of Zimbabwe national cricket team by the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC).

7. Japan defeated Spain to lift its first FIFA U-20 Women’s World
Cup. The event was played at Vannes, France.

8. Sebastian Vettel won the Belgian Grand Prix 2018 at Spa-

Francorchamps Track in Belgium.

1. Senior Congress leader and five-time

parliamentarian Gurudas Kamat passed away
due to Heart Attack. 
2.  Renowned journalist, author and human
rights activist Kuldip Nayyar passed away.

3. India’s first captive-born Humboldt

Penguin named Freedom Baby died barely a week after it was born at
Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo (Byculla), Mumbai.

4. Noted Malayalam film director K K Haridas passed away. 

5. Actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna died recently.

6. Former Bengal opener and captain Gopal Bose passed away.

7.  Neil Simon, a playwright and Broadway’s master of comedy from

the US passed away recently.

8. US Senator John McCain passed away after fighting glioblastoma, a

form of brain cancer, in United States.

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