My Dear Aspirants, · 2018-10-24 · My Dear Aspirants, Greetings to all of you! “What we think we become” Gautama Buddha. We all have dreams. To make dreams come into reality

My Dear Aspirants,

Greetings to all of you! “What we think we become” Gautama Buddha. We all have dreams. To make dreams come into reality it takes a lot of determination, dedication, self discipline and continuous effort.

We at VETRII IAS Study Circle are committed to provide the right guidance, quality coaching and help every aspirants to achieve his or her life’s cherished goal of becoming a civil servant.

The class room coaching at VETRII IAS Study Circle is meticulously planned to equip the aspirants with all the relevant facts and fundamentals of the subjects. Further the VETRII IAS Study Circle Study materials aim to support the candidate by providing the most relevant study material in a comprehensive manner.

Wishing You All The Very Best !!

DIRECTOR

(M.Shunmugam)

Vetrii IAS Study Circle.

CONTENT

1.HISTORYImportant Days 1Profile of States 6Defence, National Security and Terrorism 7World Organisations - Pacts and Summits 16Eminent Persons 20Places in News 28Sports and Games 30Books and Authors 59Awards and Honours 60Cultural Panorama 67Latest Historical Events 69India and its Neighbours 70Appointments - Who is who? 722. POLITICAL SCIENCE

Latest court Verdicts 81Political Parties and Political System in India 84Govt - Welfare Oriented Govt Schemes, Their Utility 90

3. GEOGRAPHYGeographical Landmarks 99

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Vetrii IAS Study Circle6

TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

4.ECONOMICS

Current Socio-Economic Problems 100New Economic Policy and Govt. Sector 105

5. SCIENCELatest Inventions on Science and Technology 108Latest Discoveries in Health Science 118Mass Media & Communication 126

6. NATIONAL - DIARY OF EVENTS 128

7. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 152

8. TAMILNADU AFFAIRS165

9. OTHER NEWS 175

10. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 177

11. PRACTICE QUESTIONS 187

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1Vetrii IAS Study Circle


AUGUST (1-7) : World Breastfeeding week

• Annual campaign that is held every year from 1st August to 7th August.

• Celebrated in more than 120 countries globally

• Organised by WABA, WHO and UNICEF.

• To commemerate Innocentic declaration made by WHO & UNICEF in 1990 to protect & Support breast feeding.

Established by : World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA)First observed : 1992Theme : “Breastfeeding : foundation for life”.

AUGUST 2 : Venice Film FestivalEstablished by : Venetion City CouncilFirst observed : 1932

IMPORTANT DAYS

HISTORY

IMPORTANT DAYS

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AUGUST 5 : International Forgiveness DayEstablished by : World Forgiveness AllianceFirst observed : 1990

AUGUST 6 : Hiroshima Day

• On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 a.m., the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the 20 kiloton atomic bomb “Little Boy,” on Hiroshima, which devastated most of the city, killing 80,000 people instantly, leaving 12,000 missing and 40,000 wounded.

AUGUST 7 : National Handloom Day

• First Observed : 2015 in chennai

• To generate awareness about importance of India’s handloom industry.

• To commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this date in 1905

• aimed at reviving domestic products and production processes.

• The first National Handloom Day was inaugurated on 7 August 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

AUGUST 9 : Nagasaki Peace Day

• On August 9, 1945, at 11:01 a.m., another US bomber dropped the 21 kiloton atomic bomb “Fat Man” on another Japanese city - Nagasaki - killing about 40,000 people and leaving 60,000 injured.

IMPORTANT DAYS

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Japan

h Capital - Tokyo.

h Currency - Yen

h Prime minister - Shinzo Abe (Since 2012)

AUGUST 9 : Quit India Day First observed : 1942

• Also called as August Revolution

• Day at the All India Congress Committee Session in Bombay, Gandhi launched the “Quit India Movement”.0

AUGUST 9 : International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Established by : United Nations General AssemblyFirst observed : 1994Theme 2018 : “Indigenous peoples’ migration and movement”.

• Marking the first meeting of the UN working group on Indigenous population of the subcommission on the promotion and protection of Human Rights held in 1992.

AUGUST 10 : World Biofuel Day

• To create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels.

AUGUST 10 : World Lion Day Established by : Big Cat Rescue First observed : 2013

IMPORTANT DAYS

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AUGUST 12 : International Youth Day Established by : United Nations General AssemblyFirst observed : 2000Theme : Safe Spaces for Youth

AUGUST 13 : World Organ Donation Day (WODD)

• The World Organ Donation Day (WODD) is observed every year on August 13 to encourage people to donate their precious organs.

AUGUST 18 : Helium Steps into 150th year since its Discovery

• Helium (He), with atomic number 2, was discovered on 18th August 1868 by French astronomer Jules Janssen along with Norman Lockyer.

CRYOGENS

• A Substance to produce very low temperatures. Application

• Liquid helium → Cryogenics + MRI scanners

• General uses 1) Used as Inert shield for arc welding.

2) Pressurize fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets.

3) Super sonic wind tunnels.

AUGUST 19 : WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAYEstablished by : United Nations General AssemblyFirst observed : 2009Launched Campaign : #NotATarget

IMPORTANT DAYS

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AUGUST 20 : World Mosquito DayFirst observed : 1893 • To commemorate Sir Ronald Rose for his discovery

that female mosquitoes transmit malaria.

AUGUST 22 : MADRAS DAY 1) First celebrated in 1939 2) Celebrated annualy from 20043) To commemorate foer founding of Madras.

AUGUST 26 : Women’s Equality Day 1) First observed : 19732) To commemorate the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment to USA constitution, which prohibit the states and federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of USA on the basis of sex.

AUGUST 29 : National Sports Day Established by : Remembrance of Dhyam Chand

Singh (Hockey Player)

IMPORTANT DAYS

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PROFILE OF STATES

UTTAR PRADESH MUGHAL SARAI JUNCTION RENAMED AS DEEN DAYAL UPADHYAYA JUNCTION

• First attempt to change the name by BJP government in 1992

• The Indian Govrernment approved a proposal by the UP government in 2017.

Bharatiya Janata Party

PRESIDENT AMIT SHAHParliamentary Chairperson Narendra ModiLok Sabha leader Narendra Modi (Prime Minister)Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister)Founded 6 April 1980 (38 years ago)Formerly Known Bharatiya Jana Sangh(1951−1977) Janata Party

(1977−1980)

PROFILE OF STATES

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DEFENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY AND TERRORISM

BALLISTIC MISSILE INTERCEPTOR AAD SUCCESSFULLY FLIGHT TESTED

• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the successful test of the Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Air Defence (AAD) from Abdul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island), Odisha.

• The endo-atmospheric missile, capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 km was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1500 km class ballistic missile.

• The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa witnessed the flight test along with other senior officials.

About DRDO

h Sanjay Mitra (Present Defence Secretary) is the present Chairman of DRDO.

h DRDO -Headquarters in New Delhi.

h It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation.

h It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

PROFILE OF STATES

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THE SUCCESSFUL TEST ON NAVAL LCA MARKS A MILESTONE

• The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Naval Prototype 2 (NP2) successfully landed on the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa. This trial is a milestone towards completion of CCT (Carrier Combat Trials) trials of LCA Navy.

• The Arrestor Hook System (AHS) for Ship Deck operations of LCA Naval version was designed and developed by Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) wing of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

• The combined effort by HAL, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC), Regional Director Aeronautical Quality Assurance (RDAQA) and Navy led to the success.

• Navy will conduct a series of such trials and the Naval LCA is expected to be on INS Vikramaditya by the end of 2018.

h A Light combat aircraft is a light multirole military aircraft most coming from advanced trainers that have been modified or designed for engaging in light combat missions, either in light strike or attack missions, reconnaissance or interdiction roles while some keeping its trainer role.

h They are also slower than their bigger counterparts capable only of subsonic speed though some are capable of reaching March 1.

MAITREE 2018 JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE BETWEEN INDIA AND THAILAND HELD IN THAILAND

• Exercise ‘Maitree’ is a joint military exercise between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army and is running on in Thailand from 6 to 19 August 2018.

• Maitree 2018 was platoon level exercise that comprises of infantry component.

• Aim:- To develope mutual understanding and bonhomie between the two armies in order to counter terrorism.

PROFILE OF STATES

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Exercise Maitree 2018

h Maitree 2018 was platoon level exercise that comprises of infantry component. Its opening ceremony was started with familiarization of organization and display of weapons and equipment of both armies. It mainly emphasized to hone tactical and technical skills in joint counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in rural and urban scenario under United Nations (UN) mandate.

h The exercise laid due emphasis on increasing interoperability between forces from both countries which is considered crucial for success of any joint operation. Both armies also jointly trained, planned and executed series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario.

JCOS ARE GAZETTED OFFICERS, RECITES BY DEFENCE MINISTRY

• Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) in the Indian military are gazetted officers, the Defence Ministry has clarified in an order issued on August 1.

• The Ministry has instructed the three services to issue suitable identity cards to the JCOs immediately in the order, the subject of which reads: “Issue of blue Securitized Laminated Identity Cards (SLIC) to JCOs and equivalent officer having been accorded gazetted officer status by an Act of Parliament.”

h Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) is a term describing a group of military ranks found in the Indian Army, Pakistan Army, Bangladesh Army and Nepal Army.

h Those soldiers holding JCO rank receive a commission from the President, but this commission is of a lower status than that held by full commissioned officers.

h During British rule, these soldiers were known as Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers (VCOs) except in Nepal, which was never a British colony.

PROFILE OF STATES

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ASSAM REJECTED MOVE TO SHRINK AREA UNDER AFSPA

• The past two years, the Union Home Ministry has proposed reducing the areas under AFSPA in the northeast, only to face stiff resistance from the Army and the Defence Ministry.

• Over 300 Army officers moved the Supreme Court challenging registration of FIRs against them for operations in areas where AFSPA is in force.

h Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA) 1958, are Acts of the Parliament of India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in what each act terms “disturbed areas”.

h According to The Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976 once declared ‘disturbed’, the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 3 months. Act passed on Septem-ber 11, 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam.

h In the following decades it spread, one by one, to the other Seven States in India’s north-east(at present it is in force in Assam, Nagaland, manipur excluding Imphal municipal council area, Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh) in 2016.

h Another one passed in 1983 and applicable to Punjab and Chandigarh was withdrawn in 1997, roughly 14 years after it came to force.

h An Act passed in 1990 was applied to Jammu and Kashmir and has been in force since.

PERMANENT COMMISSION WILL LIFT THE MORALE OF WOMEN

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Independence Day address that women officers in the military would get permanent commission on a par with their male counterparts.

• A women SWAT team standing guard at Red Fort.

• Many women officers have taken the legal route demanding permanent commission, and in April, the government told the Supreme Court that it was open to it. The contours of implementation are being finalised by the Defence Ministry.

PROFILE OF STATES

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INDIA IS BUILDING AMCA, A NEW FIFTH GENERATION FIGHTER JET

• Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India’s only fifth-generation fighter aircraft, will make its first flight in 2032. The AMCA will fly with two GE-414 engines. It was designed by DRDO and manufactured by HAL.

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) has given land and provisions to the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to set up facilities for this project.

• IAF plans to produce a medium fifth-generation fighter aircraft based on the capabilities and expertise developed during the development of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

• This aircraft programme is after the decision by IAF not to go ahead with the fifth-generation project with Russia.

INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TESTS ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE HELINA IN POKHRAN

• Indigenously developed Helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘HELINA’ was successfully flight tested from Indian Army Helicopter at Pokhran range. The weapon system was tested for its full range.

• About Test: ATGM HELINA weapon system was released smoothly from Army Helicopter. After its launch it tracked target all through its course and hit it with high precision.

h HELINA is helicopter launched version known of NAG ATGM, designed and developed indigenously for Indian Army under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). HELINA is one of the most advanced Anti-Tank Weapons in the world. It works on “fire and forget” principle and operates in Lock on Before Launch mode. It has operational range of 7–10 km (after air-launched).

h It also possesses advanced passive homing guidance system.

h It has been designed mainly to destroy modern main battle tanks and other heavily armoured targets.

PROFILE OF STATES

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INDIA SENT INS SAHYADRI TO FIJI TO BOOST TIES

• Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri (F49) is the third and latest ship among the Shivalik Class of indigenously built stealth frigates and forms a part of the Eastern Fleet of Indian Navy.

• INS Sahyadri ship celebrated the 72nd Independence Day of India in the Port of Suva, Fiji on August 15.

• INS Sahyadri draws its name from the beautiful, age-defying Western Ghats (also known as Sahyadri ranges) stretching across 1,600 km along India’s western coast.

h INS Sahyadri was built at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) located in Mumbai. The keel of the vessel was laid on 30 September 2003 and was launched on 27 May 2005.

h It underwent sea trials in 2011-2012. From there it was commissioned on 21 July 2012 into the Eastern Naval Command headquartered at Visakhapatnam.

INDIA AND PAKISTAN TAKE PART FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SCO PEACE MISSION MILITARY DRILL

• For the first time, the militaries of India and Pakistan are taking part in a mega anti-terror drill of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia aimed at expanding cooperation among the member countries to deal with the growing menace of terrorism and extremism.

• India is participating in the Peace Mission Military Drill for the first time since becoming a full member of the SCO in June 2017.

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• As part of the SCO initiatives, the SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for the SCO member states.

• The joint exercise is being conducted by the Central Military Commission of Russia from August 22 to August 29 at Chebarkul, Russia.

• The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an international counter insurgency or counter terrorism environment under the SCO Charter.

• At least 3,000 soldiers from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan are participating in the drill, according to the Chinese media reports.

INS VIKRAMADITYA TO HAVE MARINE HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS FOR THE FIRST TIME

• For the first time, India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be fitted with a marine hydraulic system to boost the air operations of the ship.

• Technodinamika, a subsidiary of Russia’s Rostec State Corporation, will install the system in the Indian Navy ship by May 2019.

• The INS Vikramaditya worth $2.3 billion, came to India from Russia in January 2014.

• INS Vikramaditya is 284 metres long and 60 metres high - that’s about as high as a 20-storeyed building. The ship weighs 40,000 tonnes and is the biggest and heaviest ship in the Indian Navy.

Hydraulic System

A Mechanism Operated by the resistance offered or the pressure transmitted when a liquid is forced through a small opening or tube.

h INS Vikramaditya (Sanskrit, Vikramaditya meaning “Brave as the Sun”) is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier which entered into service with the Indian Navy in 2013. She has been renamed in honour of Vikramaditya, a legendary emperor of Ujjain, India

PROFILE OF STATES

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INDIA’S FIRST BIOFUEL FLIGHT TO FLY FROM DEHRADUN TO DELHI

• India’s first flight using Biofuel will fly from Dehradun (Capital of Uttarakhand) to Delhi. The first ever biofuel test flight was conducted by SpiceJet on its turboprop Q-400 plane.

• With this India will join elite club of nations who have operated flight on alternative energy source like biofuel .Developed countries like Canada, Australia and US have already conducted these test flights. India will be the first developing nation to experiment biofuel test flight .

h Bio fuel is produced from vegetable oils , recycled grease algae and animal fat. And World Bio Fuel day celebrated on August 10.

h SpiceJet operated first such biofuel flight from Dehradun to Delhi using alternative environment friendly fuel for 10 minutes over Dehradun.

h The World’s first dedicated biofuel (by Dreamliner 7879) was flown for first time from Los Angeles ( US) to Melbourne (Australia) in January 2018 by Australian carrier Qantas .

INTERNATIONAL ARMY GAMES 2018

• The International Army Games 2018 are being held at 24 training grounds in seven countries namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, China and Russia from July 28 to August11.

• International Army Games was started in 2015 also known as war Olympics and its headquarters - Moscow.

• It is for the first time that Armenia and Iran are co-hosting events of the Army Games.

• Indian teams are taking part in two major competitions– Tank Biathlon event at Alabino ranges, Moscow region and Elbrus Ring competition in Caucasus Mountains.

• The opening ceremony was attended by Indian Ambassador to Russia, Pankaj Saran along with Indian attaches attended the ceremony.

PROFILE OF STATES

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FIRST CUTTING-EDGE WAVERIDER HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFT“STARRY SKY-2”

• On August 5, China has successfully tested its first cutting-edge waverider hypersonic aircraft“Xingkong-2 (or Starry Sky-2)” which could carry nuclear warheads and penetrate any current generation anti-missile defence systems.

• This type of waverider aircraft uses shock waves generated by its own flight as a lifting surface to enhance the lift-to-drag ratio to reach the hypersonic regime of March 5 or even above.

SIX SAILORS RECALL THEIR HISTORIC VOYAGE AROUND THE GLOBELL-WOMEN TEAM OF INSV TARINI

• This is the first-ever Indian circum navigation of the globe by an all-women crew.

• Titled Navika Sagar Parikrama, the voyage began from Goa in the first week of September last year and culminated in May this year. During the 254-day-long voyage, the six officers covered about 22,000 nautical miles, visiting five countries – Australia, New Zealand, Falkland Islands (U.K.), South Africa and Mauritius Apart from the Captain, Lt. Cdr. Joshi, the team included officers, Pratibha Jamwal, Aishwarya Boddapati, Patarapalli Swathi, Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta.

PROFILE OF STATES

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WORLD ORGANISATIONS PACTS AND SUMMITS

KHANGCHEND ZONGA BECAME 11TH BIOSPHERE RESERVE IN (WNBR)

• The decision to include Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve in WNBR (World NEtwork of Biosphere Reserves) was taken at the 30th Session of International Coordinating Council (ICC) of Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme of UNESCO held at Palembang, Indonesia.

• India has 18 Biosphere Reserves and with the inclusion of Khangchendzonga, the number of internationally designated WNBR has become 11, with 7 Biosphere Reserves being domestic Biosphere Reserves.

The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, each known as biosphere reserves, that are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature

h The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) of the MAB Programme consists of a dynamic and interactive network of sites.

h It works to foster the harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development through participatory dialogue, knowledge sharing, poverty reduction, human well-being improvements, respect for cultural values and by improving society’s ability to cope with climate change.


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SOUTH KOREAS AGREE TO HOLD KIM- MOON JAE-IN SUMMIT IN PYONGYANG

• At the historic first summit between Moon and the North’s leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom in April they agreed the South’s president would visit Pyongyang during the autumn.

• North and South Korea agreed to hold a summit in the north in September, another step towards boosting cooperation between the old rivals, even as doubts grow over efforts to end the North’s nuclear weapons programme

• From the two countries meeting in the truce village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas, reached an agreement on a September Summit between the countries leaders in the North’s capital of Pyongyang.

SUMMIT OF LEADERS OF THE GROUP IN KATHMANDU ON AUG 30-31

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a summit of leaders from BIMSTEC countries in Kathmandu on August 30-31 and hold bilateral talks with most of them, including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli.

• Theme 2018: ‘Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region’.

• At an event organised by business chamber FICCI just ahead of the summit, envoys of BIMSTEC countries recited by FTA (Free Trade Agreement).

• The envoys of seven member countries who form the “Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation,” who also called for the speedy conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement within the group comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

About BIMSTEC

h Founded in 1997, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international regional organisation of seven nations of South Asia and South East Asia.

h The member countries of the Summit include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal. All these seven countries lie near the Bay of Bengal.

h Initially, the bloc included just four member states and was called BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).

h Myanmar was included later and the group was renamed BIMST-EC.

h The name was changed to BIMSTEC with the admission of Nepal and Bhutan at the 6th Ministerial meeting in Thailand in February 2004.

h The first BIMSTEC summit was held in Thailand in 1997; second was held in 2008 in India; and the third was held in 2014 in Myanmar.

h Nepal is the current Chair of the BIMSTEC. Nepal assumed the chairmanship in 2014.


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No. Date Host Country Hosty City1st 31 July 2004 Thailand Bangkok2nd 13 November 2008 India New Delhi3rd 4 March 2014 Myanmar Nay Pyi Daw4th Aug / Sep 2018 Nepal Kathmandu5th 2022 Srilanka -

FIRST SAARC AGRI COOPERATIVE BUSINESS FORUM BEGINS IN KATHMANDU

• The theme of three-day Forum is the ‘Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers’ cooperatives to attain the Sustainable - Development - Goals-1 and 2 in South Asia’.

About SAARC

h SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

h Founded in 1985, HQ Kathmandu, Nepal

h Member states: 8 members

h Headquarters: Kathmandu

h Official languages: English

THE FIRST ‘NEPAL-INDIA THINK TANK’ SUMMIT

• The first ‘Nepal-India Think Tank’ Summit was held in Kathmandu on July 31 to foster greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing among the think tanks of the two countries.

• It was inaugurated by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, the former Prime Minister of Nepal and CoChairman of ruling Nepal Communist Party.

• The summit was jointly organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDA) and Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML).


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• The purpose of the summit was to support the networks and promote mutual understanding through institutional collaboration on resource sharing for joint events / publications among think tanks of the two countries.

• The participants including think tanks, policy makers, diplomats, academicians, business persons and journalists deliberated on the Indo-Nepal ties and its dimensions in different sessions.

‘ONE DISTRICT ONE PRODUCT’ SUMMIT 2018• The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the

‘One District One Product (ODOP) ’Summit in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on August 10, 2018.

• The summit has been organised by the Uttar Pradesh government to promote traditional industries and spur local trade.

• Uttar Pradesh is uniquely famous for product-specific traditional industrial hubs across 75 districts, including Varanasi (Banarasi silk sari), Bhadohi (carpet), Lucknow (chikan), Kanpur (leather goods), Agra (leather footwear), Aligarh (locks), Moradabad (brass ware), Meerut (sports goods) and Saharanpur (wooden products).

9TH EDITION OF VIBRANT GUJARAT GLOBAL SUMMIT-2019

• The 9th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-2019 is scheduled to be held between January 18 and 20 in Gandhinagar with theme ‘Shaping of a New India’.

• The ‘Youth Connect Forums’ at the summit will facilitate interactions between young achievers, successful businessmen and traders and the youth.

• There would be discussions on success of sectors like pharma, diamond, manufacturing and SEZ in the state.


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EMINENT PERSONS

FORMER TAMIL NADU GOVERNOR BHISHMA NARAIN SINGH PASSES AWAY

• Dr. BhishmaNarain Singh (85), the former Union Minister and Congress leader, has passed away in Noida on August 1, 2018.

His noted points

• Dr Singh held various portfolios during the Congress rule led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

• He was also the Governor of Assam and Tamil Nadu.

SISODIA UNVEILS OIL PORTRAITS OF KALAM, LAL BAHADUR

SHASTRI IN DELHI ASSEMBLY

• New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia unveiled the oil portraits of the former President, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Assembly Hall at Delhi Vidhan Sabha,

• The portraits were unveiled by pushing the electronic button in the presence of Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly, Ram Niwas Goel, family members of Dr.Kalam and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

• Ministers of Delhi Government, Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Sushil Gupta and N.D.Gupta, Deputy Speaker, Rakhil Birla, Leader of Opposition, Vijender Gupta, MLAs were also present on this occasion.

EMINENT PERSONS

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BBC’S WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD LIST: MARIE CURIE TOPPED

• BBC History Magazine conducted a poll of 100 women who changed the world. Marie Curie voted the woman who made the most significant impact on world history.

• Women from several fields in areas like politics, science, sports, technology, and literature were shortlisted.

h Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel prize in physics, a first female professor at the University of Paris and also the first person to win a second Nobel prize.

h She got 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and with physicist Henri Becquerel. She won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

• Here is the list of Top 5 from the BBC History Magazine’s ‘100 Women Who Changed The World’:

h Marie Curie,

h Rosa Parks,

h Emmeline Pankhurst,

h Ada Lovelace,

h Rosalind Franklin.

SOMNATH CHATTERJEE PASSES AWAY AT 89• Former LokSabha leader and CPM veteran Somnath Chatterjee passed

away at a Kolkata hospital.

Born in 1929 in Assam’s Tezpur, Chatterjee grew up to be a prominent lawyer and nationalist during India’s independ-ence.

h A Barrister-at-Law from Middle Temple in UK, Chatterjee was a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for four decades from 1968 to 2008, till his expulsion. Chatterjee embarked on his journey into politics in 1968.

h He became a Member of the LokSabha in 1971 for the first time.

EMINENT PERSONS

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ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE, FORMER PRIME MINISTER, PASSED AWAY ON 16TH AUGUST

• Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 93 years old, passed away on 16th August due to his prolonged ill health.

• The veteran leader was Prime Minister thrice in 1996, 1998-1999 and 1999-2004.

• He was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior. He was one of the founding members of the Jan Sangh in 1951 and became its president in 1968.

• He was elected 10 times the Lok Sabha from four different States. He was twice the member of Rajya Sabha.

• He was also a poet and his poetry collections were compiled in his book Meri EkyaavanKavitayein (My 51 Poems).

VAJPAYEE ACHIEVEMENTSTHE 1ST INDIAN LEADER TO ADDRESS UNGA IN HINDI

h Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first external affairs minister to deliver a speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly, effectively raised India’s stand on key issues like nuclear disarmament, state-sponsored terrorism and reforms at the world body.

h Vajpayee, in his role as foreign minister and prime minister, visited the UN headquarters to deliver speeches to the UNGA on seven occasions from 1977 to 2003.

GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL

h The Golden Quadrilateral or “GQ” was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s first dream project and is enshrined as the biggest infrastructure intervention in the roadways sector in post-Independent India, making 5,846 km of highways with the start of the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

h What emerged was the grand design to connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai for seamless movement of freight.

NUCLEAR TESTS

h One of the hallmarks of Vajpayee’s reign was the Pokhran-II nuclear bomb tests, which were conducted clandestinely at the Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district in May 1998.

h Under Pokhran-II, five underground nuclear bomb explosions took place on May 1998, in what came to be known as the CIA’s biggest intelligence failure.

h Vajpayee’s strategically important and courageous decision made India a nuclear weapons power even though it resulted in sanctions by the US and the European Union.

EMINENT PERSONS

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KARGIL WAR

h Vajpayee’s prime ministership tenure was also characterised by the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan and the latter’s subsequent defeat was a major achievement of the government.

h The 1999 Kargil war, christened Operation Vijay, was fought between May and July 1999 and was necessitated after Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants infiltrated into India across the Line of Control.

h The war finally came to an end after US President Bill Clinton spoke to Vajpayee on recommendation of Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan took back its troops after suffering heavy damage.

KANTAGAR PLANE HIJACK

h On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 from Kathmandu to New Delhi with 176 passengers and 15 crew members was hijacked by Pakistan-based extremist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, who demanded the release of three terrorists held in Indian prisons.

h Government of India was declined help from the West, from the UAE government and pakistan government during as the hijacking situation unfolded. Vajpayee had convened an all party meeting in which manmohan singh had participated as the leader of opposition.

Role of Vajpayee

h Vajpayee did not have an option other than giving into the demands of the terrorists.

h To further complicate matters the hijack was being played out in the land of Taliban and the hideout of terrorist Osama Bin laden.

QUEEN OF SOUL ARETHA FRANKLIN DIES AGED 76

• Aretha Franklin, the teenage gospel singer who rose to become the Queen of Soul, selling 75 million records and inspiring generations, has died.

Her noted Words:

h She won 18 Grammy Awards and became the first female performer inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

h She was signed to Columbia Records in 1960, with her father as her manager, but it wasn’t until a move to Atlantic in 1967, and the release of I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You), that she started to see commercial success.

EMINENT PERSONS

August -2018



ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVIST URI AVNERY DEAD

• Veteran left-wing journalist, lawmaker and peace activist Uri Avnery died at age 94 in Tel Aviv. A founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement, Avnery was also one of the first Israelis to actively advocate for the establishment of a Palestinian state, more than 70 years ago.

• He was founder and one of the first Israelis to actively seek a Palestinian state as a peaceful solution to the conflict: ‘The difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist depends on your perspective’.

CULTURE MINISTRY DRAFTS 32-POINT PLAN TO MARK GANDHI’S

150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY• A list of 32 activities has been prepared by

the Culture Ministry to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, even as other government departments are in the process of readying their proposals for the October 2, 2018-March 30, 2019 extravaganza.

• The government, which has already announced its plans to celebrate the occasion both in India and abroad, has asked all the ministries to keep their proposals ready for approval from the six sub-committees, consisting of secretaries of central ministries, by August-end.

EMINENT PERSONS

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• The Ministry of Culture, the nodal ministry for the celebrations, has drafted a 32-point plan with events ranging from a philatelic exhibition on Gandhi Partv, international seminars, plays, exhibitions on Gandhi across the country to “kavisammelan” and astronomy shows.

• It has also planned cycle yatras, a Gandhi-specific tableau on Republic Day, releasing a commemorative coin, a conference on value addition, Gandhi katha among other programmes.

JAPAN GETS FIRST WOMAN FIGHTER PILOT• First Lieutenant Misa Matsushima, 26, of

Japan Air Self Defence Force, finished her training yesterday to fly F-15s and will officially be named a fighter pilot , the ministry said in a brief statement.

• The air force decided in 1993 to open all positions to women, except for pilots of fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft.

• But the limit was lifted in 2015, opening the way for Matsushima to join the elite group of fighter pilots, with three other women now going through training.

VETERAN JOURNALIST KULDIP NAYAR PASSES AWAY AT 95

• The veteran journalist had started his career with an Urdu newspaper.

• Nayar was also an author, with 15 books to his name, and was appointed as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom in 1990.

• He was also nominated as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Rajya Sabha in 1997.

EMINENT PERSONS

August -2018



THIRU VI KA 131ST BIRTHDAY

• Thiruvarur Viruttachala Kalyanasundaram (Thiruvarur Virudhachala Kalyanasundaram Mudaliar: August 26, 1883 – September 17, 1953), better known by his Tamil initials Thiru. Vi. Ka, was a Tamil scholar, essayist and activist.

• Thiru Vi. Ka was born in the village of Thullam in Chengalpet district, near Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on 26 August 1883.

• His works, along with those of V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Maraimalai Adigal, and Arumuga Navalar, are considered to have defined the style of modern Tamil prose.

Role in India’s Freedom

In 1920, he started his Tamil weekly Navasakthi. With his active role in the Indian Freedom Movement, he became a member of the Indian National Congress, Rising to become the President of the Tamilnadu Congress Committee in 1926.

NEIL SIMON, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT, DEAD AT 91

• Neil Simon, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning playwright behind over 30 plays including The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park and Biloxi Blues, died Sunday at the age of 91.

• Simon died of complications from pneumonia at a Manhattan hospital. Simon suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

• “Neil Simon’s unparalleled career in the theater included more than thirty plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades. He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with Come Blow Your Horn and concluded his extraordinary Broadway run with 45 Seconds from Broadway in 2001,” the statement continued.

EMINENT PERSONS

August -2018



CHEMMANAM CHACKO, WHO PASSED AWAY

• Chemmanam Chacko (92), the renowned Malayalam poet and Sahitya Akademi awardee, has passed away in Kochi, Kerala on August 14, 2018.

His noted Words:

• Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Sanjayan Award, Kunjan Nambiar Kavitha puraskaram, P SmarakaPuraskaram and MahakaviUlloor Award.

• His first published poem titled ‘Pravachanam’ was naturally inspired by the freedom struggle.

• His other works include Vilamparam, Kanakaaksharangal, Nellu, Innu, etc.

KOFI ANNAN RECENTLY PASSED AWAY • He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for helping

to revitalize the international body,during a period that coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic.

• In September 2016, Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis.

• Kofi Annan (80), the former UN secretary-general and a Ghanaian diplomat, has passed away in Switzerland on August 18, 2018.

• He served two terms as UN chief from 1997 to 2006. Mr Annanwas the first black African to become UN secretary-general.

EMINENT PERSONS

August -2018



PLACES IN NEWS

BENGALURU E-WAY TO GET LINKED TO CITY

• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to connect the proposed Bangalore-Chennai Expressway (BCE) that ends at Sriperumbudur with the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway at Maduravoyal.

• A six-lane elevated road from Sriperumbudur to Maduravoyal will run along the Poonamallee High Road and cost around Rs. 3,000 crore to construct.

• The NHAI is going in for vertical development to avoid land acquisition and minimise social impact. A detailed project report for the 22-km road is in the works.

121-YEAR-OLD HERITAGE BUILDING TO SHOWCASE HISTORY OF INSTITUTE

• To the east of Madras Medical College (MMC) stands a building referred to as ‘Red Fort’.

• The 121-year-old heritage building, which is currently being restored to its old glory, will soon turn into a museum.

• Constructed in 1897, the red brick structure has been classified as a Grade I heritage building by the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee on heritage structures. The Indo-Saracenic style building housed the Department of Anatomy for several decades.

PLACES IN NEWS

August -2018



2,600 ATTAPPADY TRIBALS APPEAR FOR LITERACY EXAM

• Fighting poverty and backwardness, over 2,600 tribals, mostly women, of Attappady in Kerala have appeared for a literacy examination aimed at eradicating illiteracy among tribals and bringing them to the mainstream of society.

SYMANTEC OPENS CHENNAI CYBER SECURITY CENTRE

• Cyber security firm Symantec Corporation has opened a Security Operations Center (SOC) in Chennai, Symantec Cyber Security Services (CSS) would continue to sharpen its competitive advantage for customers as well as the growing network of Cyber Warriors recited. Samir Kapuria, executive vice president and general manager, Symantec CSS, “The Chennai facility has 140 security experts and will be increased to 200 soon.”

BUSINESS GROUP RECITED TO ADOPT FORT ST.GEORGE

• A business conglomerate with presence in cement ,sugar and power industries has expressed its interest to adopt the historic Fort St.George ,the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu Government, under the “Adopt a Heritage “ Scheme.

• Fort St.George would be the first site in south India to be adopted under the Scheme a joint project of the union Ministeries of Tourism and Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that aims to develop heritage sites and monuments to increase their potential as tourist attractions and preserve them given their cultural importance .

PLACES IN NEWS

August -2018



SPORTS AND GAMES

INDONESIA SET TO HOST 18TH ASIAN GAMES 2018 IN JAKARTA AND PALEMBANG

• Indonesia is busy preparing to host the 18th Asian Games 2018 to be held here from 18th August to 2nd September 2018.

• The games will take place simultaneously in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia and Palembang, capital of the province of South Sumatra, so as to accommodate all branches of sports.

• The Asian Games was preponed to 2018 since Indonesia General Electro - fulls 2019.

• This will be the second time that Indonesia hosts the Asian Games. The first one was held in Jakarta in 1962, under President Soekarno.

h The 17th and most recent edition of the Asian Games took place in Incheon in September and October 2014.

h It was the third time South Korea had staged the Olympic Council of Asia’s showpiece event, following in the footsteps of 1986 hosts Seoul and 2002 hosts Busan.

WRESTLING FEDERATION OF INDIA SIGNS TATA MOTORS AS PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

• The Commercial Vehicles Business Unit (CVBU) of Tata Motors today announced an all-encompassing three-year partnership with Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) as ‘Principal Sponsor’ to encourage and promote the sport of wrestling and leverage the strong connection with the brands of its commercial vehicle range.

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• Beginning with the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, this partnership will continue till 2021 and include the World Championships and World Cups, 2020 Olympic Games, besides other national and international wrestling events.

• Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik aptly summed up the 18 crore sponsorship deal for three years for Indian wrestling from Tata Motors.

International competitionsOlympics:

Bronze: Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav in 1952,

Bronze: Sushil Kumar in 2008,

Silver: Sushil Kumar in 2012,

Bronze: Sakshi Malik in 2016

• Wrestling in India is also known as Dangal, and it is the basic form of a wrestling tournament.In 2018, from Nagpur many of the students are appealing for Asiatic Games trial .

• KhushiKothale, MahiSinhaare the hotly discussed personality in Women’s Wrestling Championship.It is also called kushti in Punjab and Haryana.

• The wrestling in Punjab and Haryana will take place in a circular court with soft ground which in Punjabi is called an “akharha”.

SMRITI MANDHANA BECOMES THE SECOND INDIAN CRICKETER TO SMASH A HUNDRED IN WOMEN’S T20 CRICKET

• Indian women’s cricket team opener, 22-year-old, Smriti Mandhana scored 102 runs off 61 balls for Western Storm against Lancashire Thunder.

• The first Indian who scored century in women’s T20 cricket is Mithali Raj.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



LOK SABHA PASSED THE NATIONAL SPORTS UNIVERSITY BILL, 2018

• The LokSabha passed the National Sports University Bill, 2018.

• The Bill is to establish a National Sports University in Manipur.

• It aimed at enhancing the country’s standing in sports. The National Sports University Bill, 2018, will replace an Ordinance promulgated by the President Ram NathKovind on May 31 2018.

• The legislation was introduced in the LokSabha in August 2017 by Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

• The set up of the University would cost Rs.524 crore. It would promote sports coaching and research.

• It would also function as the national training centre for selective sports disciplines by adopting best international practices and for matters connected there with or incidental thereto.

SUNIL CHHETRI NAMED ‘ASIAN ICON’ BY AFC ON HIS 34TH BIRTHDAY

• Talismanic Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri was named an ‘Asian Icon’ by the game’s continental governing body on his 34th birthday and received effusive praise for rivalling the world’s greatest players of his generation in scoring goals.

• Chhetri is currently the highest goal-scoring active Asian player with 64 strikes from 101 matches and third in the world after superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

• The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) made his birthday a memorable one by presenting, on its official page, a throwback of his life and career and the best moments on the field, when he played for India and his clubs, beginning from 2005 in a match against Pakistan.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



VAIBHAV SURI WON THE BIEL MASTERS CHESS TITLE

• Grandmaster VaibhavSuri beat Prtihu Gupta and won the Biel Masters Chess title at Switzerland and made his second Grandmaster-norm in the premier nine-round competition.

• Suri seeded 19th in the field where 70 Grandmasters and participants from 31 countries were participating.

• Suri won five games and drew the rest to tally seven points.

• Germany’s Dennis Wagner won the second spot at 6.5 points. Ukraine’s Pavel Eljanov won the third spot.

P V SINDHU WON SILVER MEDAL IN (BWF) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

WOMEN’S SINGLES TITLE CLASH• P. V Sindhu following a 19-21 10-21 loss to Olympic

champion Marin of Spain.

• She won two bronze medals at the 2013 Guangzhou and 2014 Copenhagen editions.

• In men’s singles, Kento Momota of Japan won the title against Shi Yuqi.

• Here is the complete list of the winners of World Badminton Championship 2018 held in Nanjing, China :

h Men’s Singles - Kento Momota (Japan)

h Women’s Singles - Carolina Marin (Spain)

h Men’s Doubles - Li Junhui (China) and Liu Yuchen (China)

h Women’s Doubles - Mayu Matsumoto (Japan) and Wakana Nagahara (Japan).

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



INDIAN WRESTLERS WON MEDALS IN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

• Indian wrestlers won titles, in overall, in the U-15 Asian schoolboys’ freestyle & Greco-Roman style wrestling Championship 2018.

• They bagged one gold, six silvers and eight bronze medals for a total of 169 points.

Indian Winners:

GOLD SILVER BRONZE

Free Style Aman (52 kg) Mahesh (57 kg),

Parvinder (62 kg),

Karan (68 kg)

Anil (38 kg),

Chirag (44 kg),

Vital (75 kg),

Vikas (85 kg)

Greco – Roman Rupin (48kg),

Omkar (57 kg),

Arshdeep Singh (85 kg)

Yashvir Malik (38 kg),

Laungamba (5 kg),

Ravi (62 kg)

Deepak (75 kg)

VIRAT KOHLI ON TOP OF THE WORLD• Virat Kohli has achieved another personal

milestone by becoming the seventh India batsman and first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011, to top the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which were released following the conclusion of the Edgbaston Test.

• Kohli is the seventh Indian, and the first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011, to hold the No. 1 Test spot.

• Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other India batsmen to have been in the top spot during their Test careers.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



KOLKATA MAN TOPS IQ WORLD LIST WITH THE SCORE OF 148

• AmitSahai, a 43-year-old senior professional from Kolkata has topped the prestigious Intelligence Quotient (IQ) World list along with two other Americans with a score of 148.

• He has a background in international sales of software, IT, ITes services and high end audio and engineering products.

• He is also a member of the International High IQ Society.

h An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from several standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence.

h The abbreviation “IQ” was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenz quotient, his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book.

h Historically, IQ is a score obtained by dividing a person’s mental age score, obtained by administering an intelligence test, by the person’s chronological age, both expressed in terms of years and months.

WASHINGTON OPEN: ALEXANDER ZVEREV AND SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA WIN FINALS

• World number three Alexander Zverevbeat teenager Alex De Minaur to defend his Washington Open title in Tennis .

• Zverev beat the 19-year-old Australian 6- 2 6-4 in the warm-up event for the US Open to claim a third ATP title this year after wins in Munich and Madrid.

• Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 4-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 in the final of the women’s event.

• It was an 18th career tour title for the 33-year-old two-time Grand Slam champion, who had slipped to 128th in the world heading to Washington.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



INDIA CLIMB UP TO FIFTH PLACE IN LATEST HOCKEY RANKINGS

• India men’s hockey team have jumped up one place to the fifth position in the world rankings after a strong run in the recently-concluded Champions Trophy, International Hockey Federation (FIH). India became the second consecutive runner-up at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands in June with winners Australia remaining on top of the ranking chart.

• With 1906 points, Australia sit 23 points ahead of second-ranked Argentina with 1883 points, followed by Belgium with 1709 points and Netherlands with 1654 points.

RELIVING ABHINAV BINDRA’S ‘GOLDEN HOUR’• August 11,2018 is the 10th anniversary of Abhinav Bindra’s

Olympic gold in Beijing. Indian sport has moved forward over the last decade, but the moment remains unmatched.

• He had robbed him of an Olympic medal in 2004, when he was shooting at his very best

NEERAJ CHOPRA NAMED INDIA’S FLAG-BEARER FOR ASIAN GAMES OPENING

• Neeraj Chopra was named the Indian contingent’s flag-bearer for the Asian games opening ceremony.

• The 20-year-old Neeraj is the reigning CWG (Csommon Wealth Games) champion and won a gold in the Savo Games in Finland last month.

• Former hockey captain Sardar Singh was India’s flag-bearer at the 2014 Asian Games.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



DELHI TO HOST COMBINED SHOOTING WORLD CUP AHEAD OF TOKYO OLYMPICS

• Delhi has been granted hosting rights of the Combined ISSF World Cup, to be held before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the development underlining India’s growing stature in shooting sport.

• The International Shooting Sport Federation’s Combined World Cup involves events in rifle, pistol and shotgun.

• This would be the seventh continental or global mult-nation shooting competition to be staged in the country since 2012.

• The decision was taken in principle at the ISSF’s ongoing Executive Committee meeting in Vienna and conveyed to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, who attended the meeting.

YOUNGEST INDIAN TO WIN AN ASIAN TOUR TITLE (GOLF)

• Viraj Madappa becomes the youngest Indian to win a Asian Tour title.

• The 20-year-old held his nerve and collected the TAKE Solutions Masters trophy with a four-under 67 final round.

TAKE Solutions Masters Trophy

h The TAKE Solutions Masters is a golf tournament on the Asian Tour. It is co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India.

RAFAEL NADAL LIFTS ROGERS CUP 2018• 17-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal clinched his

fourth Canadian Masters 1000 title at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

• He defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas.

• The world number one swept aside Tsitsipas in a thrilling summit clash of the men’s singles event. Nadal clinched his

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



80th ATP World Tour title and fifth victory of the year.

h Rafael Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

h Nadal has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history, as well as a record 33 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, a record 20 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles.

h In 2010, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24.

h In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.

RAMESH POWAR APPOINTED HEAD COACH OF WOMEN’S CRICKET TEAM

• Former India spinner Ramesh Powar was appointed head coach of the Indian women’s national cricket team till the ICC World T20, which is scheduled to be held in November 2018.

• Powar was brought in as the interim coach of the team in July by the BCCI until they found a replacement for Tushar Arothe, who resigned as the coach of the women’s team five months after being appointed.

• Powar is the third coach of women’s team in the past one and a half year.

• Under Powar’s leadership, the Indian women’s team underwent a fitness camp from July 25 to August 3 in Bangalore at National Cricket Academy (NCA).

SARIN, ARJUN BECOME COUNTRY’S 53RD AND 54TH GMS

• Nihal Sarin became India’s 53rd Grandmaster after attaining his third and final GM-norm in the Abu Dhabi Masters.

• Telangana boy E. Arjun also became a GM, India’s 54th, in the same tournament.

SPORTS AND GAMES

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• Fourteen-year-old Arjun, who began the year 2018 without even a single IM norm, achieved the first in IIFLW ( India Info line Limited), Mumbai, the second one in Aeroflot Open and the third in HD Bank Championship in Vietnam.

• He got his first GM norm in the Kolkata International in May, the second in round-robin event in Serbia and the third and the final norm came with a win in the last round of the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018.

• Sarin, having already reached the stipulated rating of 2500, has now met the requirements to be a Grandmaster.

UAE TO HOST ASIA CUP 2018• The Board of Control for Cricket in India

(BCCI) and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) declared that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be hosting the Asia Cup 2018.

• The tournament will be held from September 15 to 28 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

• India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be participating in the tournament.

• The opening game of the tournament will be played by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

h The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India.

h The board was formed in December 1928 as a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.

h It is a consortium of state cricket associations and the state associations select their representatives who in turn elect the BCCI officials.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



SUNIL CHHETRI NAMED BEST SPORTSPERSON OF INDIA BY CALCUTTA

SPORTS JOURNALISTS’ CLUB

• India football team captain Sunil Chhetri, 34-year-old, is currently taking part in Bengaluru FC’s pre-season training in Spain.

• Special awards given to Hima Das for winning the 400m gold in the under-20 world championship and to DipaKarmakar for finishing on top on her comeback event in Turkey.

• The other Award Winners are:

h Best Junior Sportsperson of the Country : Ishan Porel

h Lifetime Achievement awards : Aroon Ghosh, Arun Lal, Akhtar Ali

h Best athlete (men) : SafiqulMondol;

h Best athlete (women) : Bhairabi Roy

VAISHALI R BECOMES INDIA’S LATEST WOMAN GRANDMASTER

• The sister of R Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali R (17-year-old), became India’s latest Woman Grandmaster (WGM) after earning her third and final WGM norm at Riga Technical University Open at Latvia.

• She is the highest ranked chess player in India in her age category.

• Praggnanandhaa became the world’s second youngest Grandmaster of all time.

• Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman was India’s first WGM, a title she achieved in 2001.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



BAJRANG PUNIA WINS FIRST GOLD IN ASIAN GAMES FOR INDIA

• Bajrang Punia has India’s account in Asian Games, by winning a gold

• This win brings smiles and relief to the Indian camp which was struck by an early exit of Sushil Kumar

• Bajrang Punia won his maiden Gold Medal in Asian Games in the 65kg category

• Bajrang Punia had come in the Games after winning three tournaments Common wealth Games, Yasar Dogu International and Tbilisi Grand Prix.

BAJRANG PUNIA ACHIEVEMENTS

h Mentor: Yogeshwar Dutt (Olympic bronze medallist)

h Medals: World Championships: Bronze (60kg), 2013

h World under 23 championships: Silver (65kg), 2017

h Asian Games: Silver (16kg), 2014, Gold (65kg) 2018

h Asian championships: Bronze (60kg), 2013

h Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games: Gold (65kg), 2017

h Commonwealth Games: Silver (61kg), 2014 ; Gold (65kg) 2018

h Commonwealth championships: Gold (65kg), 2016; Gold (65kg 2017)

CHINA’S SUN WINS FIRST GOLD MEDAL OF 2018 ASIAN GAMES

• Chinese wushu athlete Sun Peiyuan won the first gold medal of the Asian Games as the Olympic heavyweights.

• Sun, 28, scored 9.75 to win the men’s changquan category of the Chinese martial art, denying hosts Indonesia the Games’ opening title as he edged Edgar Xavier Marvelo into second place.

h China snared 151 gold medals at the 2014 Games in Incheon, nearly double the total of home nation South Korea, as they extended their record of topping the table at each edition of the regional Olympics since 1982.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



SHOOTERS APURVI, RAVI BAGGED BRONZE• Indian shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar

bagged the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event at the 18th Asian Games.

• The Indian pair scored 429.9 in the final round to finish on the podium.

• Chinese Taipei won the gold with a score of 494.1 while China took silver with 492.5.

VINESH PHOGAT WON GOLD IN ASIAN GAMES 2018• Vinesh Phogat won gold in 50 kg Freestyle Wrestling at

Asian games 2018. She overpowered Japan’s Yuki Irie and scored 6-2. Vinesh became the first female wrestler from the country to win a gold medal at Asian Games.

• In women’s 57 kg category, Pooja Dhanda lost to North Korea’s Jong Myong Suk securing 0-10.

• In women’s 62 kg category, Sakshi lost to Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan securing 7-8.

MEDALS

Asian Games

Year Medal Category

2014 Bronze 48 kg

2018 Gold 50 kg

Asian Championships

Year Medal Category2013 Bronze 51 kg

2015 Silver 48 kg

2016 Bronze 53 kg

2017 Silver 55 kg

2018 Silver 50 kg

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Commonwealth Games

Year Medal Category

2014 Gold 48 kg2018 Gold 50 kg

Commonwealth Championships

Year Medal Category

2013 Silver 51 kg

DEEPAK KUMAR, LAKSHAY WON SILVER MEDAL IN SHOOTING AT 2018 ASIAN GAMES

• Shooter Deepak Kumar handed India it’s third medal at the ongoing 2018 Asian Games after he clinched silver in the Mens 10m Air Rifle category.

• Nineteen-year-old shooter Lakshay won India’ second silver medal in shooting, by finishing second in the men’s trap event.

SAURABH CHAUDHARY WINS GOLD, SANJEEV RAJPUT WINS SILVER

• Asian Games 2018 began with shooters Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma and Sanjeev Rajput adding three more medals to India’s medal account, taking the total medal tally to 8, comprising 3 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals.

• The 16-year-old Indian shooter, Saurabh Choudhary won gold in 10m Air Pistol event with Asiad record, while Abhishek Verma bagged bronze.

• India’s Sanjeev Rajput, on the other hand, claimed the silver by finishing second in the finals of the 50m rifle 3 positions men’s event.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



DIVYAKAKRAN BAGS BRONZE IN 68 KG FREESTYLE WRESTLING

• DivyaKakran added the first bronze to India’s wrestling tally at the 18th Asian Games, beating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Wenling in the third-place play-off bout for the 68kg category at Jakarta.

• Divya was a gold-winner at the Commonwealth Championships last year.

INDIA GET 1ST EVER MEDAL IN SEPAK TAKRAW

• Athletes of 45 nations, playing 58 different kinds of sports, will give their best to win one of those at the 18th Asian Games at Jakarta Palembang.

• Indian athletes would love to prove their mettle in various events like Kabaddi, Shooting, Volleyball, Wushu and others. Hopes of Indian fans would be high after Bajrang Punia won the first gold medal for India at Asian Games 2018.

• In Badminton, the women’s team will take on Japan in team qualifier event. Men’s hockey team play against Indonesia.

INDIA WIN FOUR BRONZE MEDALS IN WUSHU, SARNOBAT CLINCHES GOLD

• Asian Games 2018 has taken off for India with shooter Rahi Sarnobat winning the 4th gold in the finals of women’s 25m pistol event. she has become the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in shooting at the Asian Games.

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• India’s prime favourite - Manu Baker was eliminated after the fifth round. The 16-year-old had scored a games record total of 593 to top the qualifying list for finals Rahi was placed 7th with a score of 580.

MEDALS

Games Category Medal

ISSF World Cup – 2013 25 m pistol Gold

Asian Games – 2014 25 m pistol Bronze

Commonwealth Games – 2010 25 m pistol pairs Gold

Commonwealth Games – 2014 25 m pistol Gold

Commonwealth Games – 2010 25 m pistol Silver

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.

Players ListSerena Williams 1Dane Caroline Wozniacki 2Sloane Stephens 3Garbine Muguruza 4Maria Sharapova 5Venus Williams 6P.V. Sindhu 7Simona Halep 8Danica Patrick 9

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



MIT STUDENT ADITHYAA ANAND MAKES THE RUPIK’S CUBE LOOK EASY

• Adithyaa Anand had started solving the Cube with his feet and he participated in the speed cubing international championship.

• In 2015, he won the national championship. “For the past four years, he have held the title every year.

• In 2016, he broke the national record of 41 seconds and since then he have improved on it seven times,”.

• A final year Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering student at MIT-Chromepet.

• He holds the national record for solving the cube with his feet, in just 25 seconds.

• He was among the 400 competitors at the Asian championship and was among the 1,100 contestants at the World Championship held in Paris last year.

• Last year, he was ranked 6th in the World Rubik’s Cube Championship.

• He has set a record of 25.26 seconds in one of the five attempts at the national championship in India.

SHARDUL VIHAN PUNCHES FOR SILVER AT ASIAN GAMES

• Fifteen-year-old Shardul Vihan became the youngest Indian shooter to win a medal at the Asian Games.

• The Meerut-based Vihan shot 73 in the final after topping the qualification earlier in the day.

• The gold went to 34-year-old South Korean Hyunwoo Shin and bronze to 42-year-old from Qatar, Hamad Ali Al Marri.

• Vihan, a class 10 student of Dayawati Modi Academy in Modipuram, was unfazed by the presence of experienced shooters double his age.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



VIRAT KOHLI RECLAIMS NO.1 TEST RANKING 10 DAYS AFTER LOSING IT

• India Captain Virat Kohli, who had become the top-ranked Test batsman for the first time , reclaimed the spot after scoring 200 runs in the third (Trent Bridge) Test against England.

• Kohli also reached a personal best of 937 rating points, which is the 11th best ever in terms of rating points.

• Cheteshwar Pujara remains the second highest ranked India batsman in the list, in sixth position.

MRF TYRES ICC TEST PLAYER RANKINGS (AS ON 23 AUGUST, FOLLOWING THE TRENT BRIDGE TEST):

Rank Player Team Points Avg Highest Rating1 Virat Kohli Ind 937 54.49 937 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2018

2 Steve Smith Aus 929 61.37 947 v SA at Durban 2018

3 Kane Williamson NZ 847 50.35 893 v Aus at Perth 20154 David Warner Aus 820 48.2 880 v NZ at Perth 20155 Joe Root Eng 818 51.27 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

BOPANNA-SHARAN PAIR WON GOLD MEDAL IN TENNIS MIXED DOUBLES

AT THE ASIAN GAMES 2018

• Indian Tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan defeated Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 in 52 minutes.

• India have claimed the men’s doubles gold on four occasions at the Games, the last pair being Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh in the 2010 Guangzhou edition.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018


TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSSPORTS AND GAMES

INDIAN ROWER DUSHYANT BAGS BRONZE MEDAL 2018 ASIAN GAMES

• Indian rowers Sawarn Singh, DattuBhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh won the men’s Quadruple Sculls to win India’s fifth gold medal at the Asian Games 2018.

• The Host cities for Asian Games 2018 are Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.

SHOOTER HEENA SIDHU WINS BRONZE IN WOMEN’S 10M AIR PISTOL EVENT

• Indian shooter Heena Sidhu settled for a bronze medal in a topsy-turvy women’s 10m air pistol final of the Asian Games.

• Heena shot a near-perfect with 3 shooters left in the field but a 9.6 in the next attempt dashed her hopes of a better finish at the Jakabaring Shooting Rang.

• Heena shot 219.3 in the final.

• Manu Bhaker shot brilliantly in the qualifications and cracked in the final.

• The Haryana girl had topped the 25m pistol qualification with a Games record and was third.

DUTEE CHAND CLINCHES INDIA’S FIRST MEDAL IN 20 YEARS IN WOMEN’S 100M

• Hima Das, Muhammed Anas, Dutee Chand and Fouaad Mirza claiming the silver medal in their respective events at the 18th Asian Games on August 26, 2018.

• India’s Muhammed Anas and Hima Das bagged the silver medal in the men’s and women’s 400 metres races respectively.

August -2018



• S h e won the country’s

first medal in 20 years in a women’s 100 event. India’s last medal in this event was a bronze, which was won by Rachita Mistry in 1998 Asian Games.

• First, Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to win an Asian Games individual equestrian medal since 1982.

• Day 7 at the Asian Games, India’s 23-year-old Tajinder Pal Singh clinched the gold medal in men’s shot put with an Asian Games record.

• The triumphs take India’s overall medal tally to 36 medals, which includes 7 gold, 10 silver and 19 bronze.

AS FATHER FIGHTS CANCER, TAJINDER WINS GOLD IN SHOT PUT

• Tajinderpal Singh Toor at Asian Games gold medal in Jakarta and Palembang.

• Not only the 23-year-old from Moga won a Gold, it came with a new Games record as he threw the iron ball to 20.75 m in his fifth attempt. It bettered a six-year old mark, set by Om Prakash Karhana (20.69m).

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



NEERAJ CHOPRA WINS INDIA’S FIRST JAVELIN GOLD MEDAL IN ASIAN GAMES HISTORY

GOLD SILVER BRONZE

Country G S B T

China 86 62 43 191

Japan 43 36 57 136

South Korea 28 36 42 106

Indonesia 22 15 27 64

Iran 17 15 15 47

India 8 13 20 41

• 20-year-old Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian javelin-thrower to win an Asian Games gold medal as he shattered his own national record by clearing a distance of 88.06m in Jakarta.

• Chopra’s gold is India’s only second medal in javelin throw in Asian Games history after Gurtej Singh won a bronze in 1982 in New Delhi.

DHARUNAYYASAMY AND SUDHA SINGH CLINCHES SILVER

• India’s DharunAyyasamy and Sudha Singh clinched silver medals in their respective athletic events taking the country’s medal tally to 39 at the 2018 Asian Games.

• Dharun won the silver medal in men’s 400m hurdles while Sudha Singh won the same medal in women’s 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9 minutes and 40.03 seconds.

• With the addition of two medals, India now have a total of six medals alone from athletics.

• In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Sudha finished behind Winfred Yavi of Bahrain.

August -2018



VARAKIL WINS WOMEN’S LONG JUMP SILVER IN ASIAN GAMES

• Jakarta, Aug 27 (PTI) NeenaVarakil gave India another silver medal from the athletics arena after she came second in the women’s long jump event at the ongoing Asian Games.

• Varakil’s best jump of 6.51m came in the fourth attempt, which was enough to fetch her the silver.

• Thi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam won the gold with a season’s best jump of 6.55, which she managed in her first attempt.

• The bronze was bagged by Xiaoling Xu of China with an effort of 6.50.

INDIA BAGGED 2 MEDALS IN KURASH AT THE ASIAN GAMES 2018

• 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.

What is Kurash?

h A combination of standing Judo and wrestling, Kurash is a native folk sport from Uzbekistan. The objective is to throw the opponent onto the ground. Throwing on the back gives 10 points and a direct victory, similar to the pin-fall in wrestling. Lesser points are awarded if an opponent is thrown onto the side or the belly, The participants can only hold each other from the collar; they can, however, use their legs to trip and fell the opponent.

MANJIT SINGH WINS GOLD IN 800M, JINSON JOHNSON FINISHES SECOND

• Manjit Singh upstaged pre-race favourite compatriot Jinson Johnson to win gold in men’s 800m in a 1-2 finish for India in the event.

• The 28-year-old Manjit ran his personal best time of 1 minute and 46.15 seconds to win his maiden major international medal.

SPORTS AND GAMES

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• Johnson, who smashed legendary Sriram Singh’s 42-year-old 800m national record in June during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships . He holds the national record .

• Abdalla Abubaker of Qatar was third.

PV SINDHU WINS INDIA’S FIRST ASIAN GAMES SILVER IN BADMINTON

• World number three PV Sindhu lost to world number one Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying in the women’s singles final to bag India’s first-ever silver medal in badminton at Asian Games.

• Saina Nehwal had won bronze medal in the event.

• Syed Modi’s bronze in men’s singles at the 1982 Games in New Delhi was the only individual medal in badminton for India at the Asian Games.

SWAPNA BARMAN BECOMES FIRST INDIAN HEPTATHLETE TO WIN ASIAN GAMES GOLD

• The first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold, Swapna Barman made a plea to provide her more customised shoes for her ‘abnormal’ feet.

• Barman, who has six toes in both her feet, produced her career-best performance by logging 6026 aggregate points from the seven events spread for two days. She competed with a tape on her right cheek to lessen pain arising out of teeth infection.

August -2018



• Biswas and Shobha had finished two-three at both Busan Asian Games (2002) and the Doha Games (2006), while Pramila had won a bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou edition.

INDIA’S SHARATH KAMAL, MANIKA BATRA WIN HISTORIC BRONZE IN

MIXED DOUBLES TABLE TENNIS• India’s pair of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra settled for a bronze medal after they

lost the Mixed Doubles Table Tennis semi-final 4-1 to China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha on the 11th day of the Asian Games 2018.

• The Chinese pair outclassed India by 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-8 in a 39-minute long semi-final match.

KARMAN KAUR THANDITHE 6TH INDIAN WOMAN TENNIS PLAYER

• Karman Kaur Thandi from Delhi has become only the 6th Indian woman tennis player to crack the top-200 rankings in singles and is now ranked exactly 200 in the WTA (World Tennis Association) list.

• In April 2018, India’s top singles player Ankita Raina had broken into the top-200.

• Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao had made it to the top-200.

• While Sania, winner of six Grand Slam titles in doubles, touched a career-high of 27 in singles in 2007.

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



INDIA’S FIRST JUNIOR CYCLING WORLD CUPMEDAL• Teen cyclist EsowAlben (17) has scripted history by winning the India’s first junior cycling WorldCup

medal — a silver at the men’s keirin event in the UCI Junior Track Cycling World 2018.

INTERNATIONAL MILITARY SPORTS COUNCIL (2018)• The 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World

Games will be hosted from Oct. 18 to 27, 2019 in Wuhan, capital city of central China’s Hubei Province.

• The games, which were inaugurated in Rome in 1995, is a multi-sport event organized every four years by the CISM.

THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY SPORTS COUNCIL

• The International Military Sports Council (IMSC) or Conseil International Sports Military (CISM), established 1948, is one of the largest multidisciplinary organisations in the world.

• CISM is the second largest multi-sport discipline organization after the International Olympic Committee, holding more than 20 competitions annually.

• Soldiers, who may previously have met on the battlefield, now meet on the sports playing field.

• It organises various sporting events, including the Military World Games and World Military Championshipsfor the armed forces of 134 member countries.

18TH ASIAN GAMES WINNERS LIST

ARCHERY

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Muskan, Madhumita Kumari,

JyothiWomen’s Team Compound Silver

2. Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan, Aman Saini

Mens Team Compound Silver

August -2018



ATHLETICS

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Tajinderpal Singh Tour Mens Shotput Gold2. Neeraj Chopra Mens Javelin Throw Gold3. Manjit Singh Mens 800m Gold4. Arpinder Singh Mens Triple Jump Gold5. Swapna Burman Womens Heptathlon Gold6. Jinson Johnson Mens 1500m Gold7. M.R.Poovamma,

Saritaben Gaikwad, Hima Das, V.K.Vismaya

Womens 4x400m Relay Gold

8. Hima Das Womens 400m Silver9. Muhammad Anas Mens 400m Silver10. Dutee Chand Womens 100m & 200m Silver11. Dharun Ayyasamy Mens 400m Hurdles Silver12. Sudha Singh Womens 300m/

SteeplechaseSilver

13. Neema Varkil Womens Long Jump Silver14. Rajivd Arokia, Muhammed

Anas, Hima Das, M.R.Poovamma

Mixed 4x400 Silver

15. P.V.Chitra Womens 1500m Bronze16. Seema Punia Womens Discus Throw Bronze

BADMINTON

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Pusarla Venkata Sindhu Womens Singles Silver2. Saina Nehwal Womens Singles Bronze

BOXING

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Amit Panghal Mens Hieght Fly (49 kg) Gold2. Vikas Krishnan Yadav Mens Middle (75kg) Bronze

BRIDGE

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Pranab Budhan, Shibhnath Sarkar Mens Pair Gold2. Samit Mukherjee, Debabrata Majunderd,

Taggy Shivdasani, Rajeshwar Tewari, Ajay khare, Raju Tolani

Mens Team Bronze

3. Bachiraju Satyanarayana, Rajeev Chandelwal, Gopinath Manna, Himani Bhandulwal, Hema Deora, Kiran Nadar.

Mixed Team Bronze

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



EQUESTRIAN

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Fouaad Mirza Individual Eventing Silver2. Fouaad Mirza, Rabesh Kumar,

Ashish Malik, Jitender SinghTeam Eventing Silver

HOCKEY

S.NO. TEAM NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Indian Mens Team Mens Tournament Bronze2. Indian Womens Team Womens Tournament Silver

KABADI

S.NO. TEAM NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Indian Mens Team Mens Tournament Bronze2. Indian Womens Team Womens Tournament Silver

KURASH

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Pinkey Balhara Womens 52 kg Silver2. Malaprabha Jadhar Womens 52 kg Bronze

ROWING

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Sawarn Singh, Dattu

Baban Bhobanal, Om Prakash, Sukhmeet Singh

Mens Quadruple Sculls Gold

2. Dushyant Chauhan Mens Lightweight Single Sculls

Bronze

3. Rohit Kumar, Bhagwan Singh

Mens Heightweight Double Sculls

Bronze

SAILING

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Shweta Shervegar,

Varsha Gautham49er FX Women Silver

2. Harshita Tonar Mixed Open Laser Bronze3. Varun Thakar, Ganapathy

Chengappa49er Men Bronze

SEPAK TAKRAW

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Indian Mens Team Mens Team Regu Bronze

August -2018



SHOOTING

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Saurabh Chaudhary Mens 10m Air Pistal Gold2. Rahi Sarnobat Womens 25m Pistol Gold3. Deepak Kumar Mens 10m Air Rifle Silver4. Lakshay Sheoran Mens Trap Silver5. Sanjeev Rajput Mens 50m Rifle

Three Positions Silver

6. Shardul Vihan Mens Double Trap Silver7. Ravi Kumar, Apurvi Chandela 10m Air rifle Mixed Team Bronze8. Abhishek Verma Mens 10m-Air Pistol Bronze9. Heena Sidhu Womens 10m Air Pistol Bronze

SQUASH

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Saurav Ghosal Mens Single Bronze2. Joshna Chinappa Womens Single Bronze3. Dipiba Pallikal Karthik Womens Single Bronze4. Dipika Pallikal Karthik,

Joshua Chinappa, Tanri Kharma, Sunayne Kuruvilla

Womens Team Silver

5 Saurar Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhur, Romit Tondon, Mahesh Mangaonken

Mens Team Bronze

TABLE TENNIS

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Sathiyam Gnanarebaram,

Achanta Sharath Kamal. Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai, Manar Thabbar

Mens Team Bronze

2. Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra

Mixed Doubles Bronze

TENNIS

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Rohan Bopanna, Dirij

SharanMens Doubles Gold

2. Anbitta Raina Womens Singles Bronze3. Prajnesh Gunneswaran Mens Singles Bronze

SPORTS AND GAMES

August -2018



WRESTLING

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Bajrang Punia Mens Freestyle (65kg) Gold2. Vinesh Phogat Womens Freestyle (50kg) Gold3. Divya Kakran Womens Freestyle (68kg) Bronze

WUSHU

S.NO. NAME CATEGORY MEDALS1. Roshibina Naorem Womens Sanda (60kg) Bronze2. Santhosh Kumar Mens Sanda (56kg) Bronze3. Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh Mens Sanda (60kg) Bronze4. Narender Grewal Mens Sanda (65kg) Bronze

August -2018



BOOKS & AUTHORS

THE BEST BOOK AWARD OF THE COUNTRY IS GIVEN TO THE ‘KALLIKALIKAL EPIC’ BY POET VAIRAMUTHU• The poet Vairamuthu’s translation of Hindi has been awarded to

India’s Best Book Award for ‘Kallikalikal Epic’.

• The novel written by poet Vairamuthu ‘Kallikkatta Ettagasam’. The Sahitya Akademi has been translated into 23 languages in the year 2003 for the Sahitya Akademi Award.

• Linguist H Balasubramanian translates into the first language ‘NagabaniWa Ka GaithiIdias’ in Hindi.

• The book, published last year by Sahitya Akademi, is currently awarded India’s Best Book of the Year.

• The Indian Commerce Associations Association (FICCI) will be awarded this award. The Central Government’s Cultural Affairs Ministry has released this information

• Translation of English, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu are complete.

TAMIL HISTORICAL NOVEL “THENPANDI SINGAM

• Muthuvel Karunanidhi (94), the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK patriarch, was the author of the Tamil historical novel “Thenpandi Singam”.

• The novel was based on a legendary story of ValukkuVeli, a Petty chief ruling Paganeri Nadu.

• Karunanidhi, who passed away in Chennai on 7th August 2018, became the chief minister in 1971, 1989, 1996 and 2006.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

August -2018



AWARDS & HONOURS

RAJIV SADBHAVANA AWARD FOR GOPALKRISHNA GANDHI

• Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has been chosen for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award for promoting communal harmony and peace.

• The award carries a citation and a cash award of Rs. 10 lakh.

• “The advisory committee of the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award in its meeting held on 28th July, 2018, decided that the 24th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award be given to Gopalkrishna Gandhi for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill,” recited Motilal Vora, member secretary of the committee.

GHULAM NABI AZAD, 4 OTHERS GET OUTSTANDING PARLIAMENTARIAN AWARD

• The Indian Parliamentary Group decided to confer the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2017 on Biju Janata Dal leader in the Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab.

• Trinamool Congress member of the Lok Sabha Dinesh Trivedi would get the award for 2016 and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) for 2015.

• According to the Lok Sabha secretariat, former Rajya Sabha member Najma Heptulla gets the award for 2013 and Lok Sabha member Hukumdev Narayan Yadav for 2014.

• The names were shortlisted by a committee headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

AWARDS & HONOURS

AWARDS & HONOURS

August -2018



AWARDS & HONOURS

CHENNAI GETS TWO ALL-WOMAN METRO STATIONS • Shenoy Nagar and Koyambedu metro stations will from now on be greeted by women

staffers, as CMRL has converted these two stations into all-woman metro stations.

• Shenoy Nagar metro station has a team of 15 women who handle ticketing. Customer care and housekeeping. The women will be working in two shifts to run the operations at the station.

CHENNAI METRO RAILWAY SERVICE

First started year : June 29, 2015

Started by: J. Jayalalithaa

First Conductor of Chennai Metro Station: Preethi

INDIAN –ORIGIN MATHEMATICIAN WINS FIELDS MEDAL

Recipients of Fields Medal

h Akshay Venkatesh (Indian)

h Caucher Birkar

h Alessio Figalli

h Peter Scholze

• Every four years,at an international gathering of mathematicians , the subject’s youngest and brightest are honoured with the fields medal, often described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematician

• This years’s recipients, announced at the International Congress of Mathematicians in RiodeJaneiro,include one of the youngest ever: Peter Scholze, a professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn,who is 30 years old.

NOBEL PRIZE h The Nobel Prize is a set of six annual international awards bestowed in several categories by

Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances.

h The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.

h In 1968, SverigesRiksbank (Sweden’s central bank) established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which, although it is not a Nobel Prize, has been commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics.

h The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and activism for peace.

AWARDS & HONOURS

August -2018


TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSAWARDS & HONOURS

AWARDS WON BY INDIAN FILMS IN THE 3RD BRICS FILM FESTIVAL, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA:

• Best Actress: Bhanita Das, Village Rockstars,

• Best Film: Newton by AmitMasurkar,

• Special Jury Award: Village Rockstars by Rima Das.

The festival screened four Indian Films in the following category:

• Films in Competition Section:

• Newton by AmitMasurkar,

• Village Rock Stars by Rima Das.

Films in Non-competition Section:

• Sinjar by SandeepPampally,

• Bhanayakam by Jayaraj.

KERALA CM PRESENTS 48TH KERALA STATE FILM AWARDS

• The 48th state film awards were presented by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram.

• Chalchitra Academy Chairman Kamal, secretary Mahesh Panju, J.C. Daniel Award winner Sreekumaran Thampi, and best actor award winner Indrans.

h The J. C. Daniel Award is Kerala’s highest award in Malayalam cinema.

h It is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a non-profit institution under the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala, India.

h Instituted in 1992, the award is given to honour the recipients for their “outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema”.

h Recipients are selected by an independent jury established by the Academy and the Department of Cultural Affairs.

h As of 2018, the honourees receive a statuette, a citation, and a cash prize of Rs.500,000 (US$7,300). They are honoured at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony.

August -2018



OSCARS TO ADD ‘POPULAR FILM’ CATEGORY

• The Oscars are adding a new category to honour popular films and promising a brisk three-hour ceremony and a much earlier air date in 2020.

• The sweeping changes, to be introduced for the February 2019 ceremony in Hollywood, will also include handing out some of the 24 Academy Awards during commercial breaks in the televised broad-cast.

AWARDS TO OPHTHAMOLOGIST• Director of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Vice

Chairman SankaraNetralaya T.S. Surendran recently received the Life Time Achievement award at the annual conference of the Tamil Nadu Ophthatmic Association .

• The award was presented by Puducherry Lt. Governor KiranBedi for his 40 Year Long contribution to paediatric Ophthalmology.

h Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions.

BEST DISTRICT AWARD TO TIRUPUR

Good Governance award

h Tamilnadu Commercial Taxes and registration Department.

h Department of Health.

h Best corporation Award - Tirupur.

h Best Municipality - Kovilpatti

h Best Panchayat Union - Jalakandapuram

THREE POLICE OFFICERS CHOSEN FOR PRESIDENT’S MEDAL

• Three police officers from Tamil Nadu have been chosen for the prestigious President’s medal for distinguished service.

AWARDS & HONOURS

August -2018



• Additional Director-General of Police (Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation) M.N. Manjunatha, Inspector-General of Police (South Zone) K. P Shanmuga Rajeswaran and Additional Superintendent of Police (Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption) S. Thirunavukarasu were conferred with the medals.

h Mr. Manjunatha, a 1991-batch IPS officer, served in various wings of the State police, including VIP security, Law & Order, Crime Branch CID and Technical Services.

h Mr. Shanmuga Rajeswaran was the Joint Commissioner of Police (South), Chennai City, when five suspects allegedly involved in the sensational bank robberies were shot dead in 2012.

h Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, presently Inspector-General of Police (Crime Branch CID), has been chosen for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Excellence in Public Service.

PRESIDENT’S MEDAL

• Two CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) Jawans from Jammu and Kashmir, were Posthumously awarded the President’s Poilice Medal for Gallantry, the country’s highest police gallantry medal.

• D.Damodaran was selected for The President’s Police Medals for distinguished and meritorious services.

SHAURYA CHAKRA AWARD • Major Aditya Kumar,Aurangzeb both in Jammu and Kashmir,

were selected for the Shaurya Chakra Award.

KIRTI CHAKRA AWARD• Sepoy Vrahma Pal Singh was selected for the

Kirti Chakra Posthumously for his act of Bravery in a counter-insurgency operation.

August -2018



HIGHEST U.S. CIVILIAN HONOUR FOR MAHATMA

• American lawmaker Carolyn Maloney recited that she will introduce a legislation to posthumously award Mahatma Gandhi a Congressional Gold Medal.

• The highest civilian award in the U.S., for inspiring peaceful movements for civil rights around the world.

• In 2016, she had led the successful effort to create the Deepavali Stamp, which she recites has since become one of the highest selling stamps.

INDIAN STUDENTS WIN STARTUP AWARD IN SINGAPORE

• Three Indian students studying in Singapore have jointly won an award for their startup idea about automating the process of medical claims.

• Akshay Gupta, Vinayak RD, and Sachin Sanjeev, who are from India and doing Global Master of Business Administration at SP Jain School of Global Management, won the Flywire Challenge, jointly organised by the school and payment transaction group Flywire

• Tzhe Flywire Challenge seeks to demonstrate how the collaboration between FinTech and educational institutions can power a new generation of entrepreneurs.

• The challenge had attracted over 20 entries from universities in Singapore.

TEACHER FROM COIMBATORE GETS NATIONAL AWARD

• Mrs R. Sathy, who serves as headmistress of the Panchayat Union Primary School, Malumichampatti in Madukkarai, has been selected for the ‘Best Teacher Award’ broke, celebrations on the campus have begun.

• She is the only teacher from Tamil Nadu who has been chosen to receive the award that will be conferred on her by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Teacher’s Day function at Delhi on September 5.

AWARDS & HONOURS

August -2018



h “Atal Tinkering Labs” for students inaugurated by R. Kamaraj. It has been opened in the Remembrance of Recently passed Ex. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

h Vajpayee Science & Technology research centre at Mannargudi, Tiruvarur District.

CM ANNOUNCES CASH REWARD FOR ASIAN GAMES MEDALLISTS

• CM Of Tamil Nadu announced a cash reward of 20 lakh each to the three squash players from Tamil Nadu who won Bronze medals in the ongoing Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia.

• JoshnaChinnappa and Dipika Pallikal won a Bronze medal in the women’s Single’s event, Saurav Ghosal won a Bronze medal in the men’s single’s event.

August -2018



CULTURAL PANORAMA

KOLKATA CELEBRATES DURGA PUJA

• In a first , Chinese consulate will fly in marital artists who will perform in the city from October 15 to 17

• Durga Puja Diplomacy has been gaining importance in Kolkata , with countries that have consulates and making to celebrate

• China has decided to take a big step forward by actively collaborating with the BJ Block Durga Puja Committee in Salt Lake , on the Eastern Fringes of the city.

INTERNATIONAL WATER COLOR FESTIVAL IN RANCHI

• Five-day long ‘International water color festival’ is held in Ranchi at Audrey House, to promote the rich art and culture of Jharkhand.

• This is the first time in the country that international artists will paint together.

• In this program 24 countries of the world, 25 states of India and 24 districts of the state are participating.

• On this occasion, the artist Victoria from Ukraine and artist Uttam Karmakar from Italy did the live painting and presented it to the Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

CULTURAL PANORAMA

August -2018



WORLD YOGA FESTIVAL AUG 22 TO AUG 26 • This year Yoga world Festival, World Yoga Conference, Jury Examinations, Yoga

Championship, Dance, Kalari, Taichi& Guinness World Record commences from 22nd August to 26th August 2018 and is organized by Yuvaa Yoga Manthiram Trust in association with Tamilnadu Tourism Department , Mamalappuram, Tamilnadu Sports University and other leading Yoga Institutions.

• To achieve the goal, yoga practitioners from more than 20 countries ( including China, Sri Lanka ,Thailand ) across the globe are travelling towards TamilNadu to attend this yoga festival.

The First Yoga Festival in India

h The annual IYF, organized by Parmarth Niketan (Rishikesh) in the sacred and heavenly state of Uttarakhand, the birthplace of Yoga and Yoga Capital of the World, is grounded in the authentic origin of Yoga.

CULTURAL PANORAMA

August -2018



LATEST HISTORICAL EVENTS

LONDON POLICE RETURN STOLEN 12TH CENTURY BUDDHA STATUE TO INDIA

• London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) returned 12th century Lord Buddha statue to India on the occasion of India’s 72nd Independence Day.

• Lord Buddha statue was stolen from India 57 years ago.

• It was one of the 14 bronze statues that were stolen in 1961 from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) museum in Nalanda.

• Indian High Commissioner to UK, YK Sinha thanked MPS for their gesture.

h Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha, was an ascetic and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.

h He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the eastern part of ancient India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.

h Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramana movement common in his region.

h He later taught throughout other regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

Latest Historical Events

August -2018



INDIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

INDIA HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS A NODAL CENTRE FOR PREPARING

FLASH – FLOOD FORECASTS

• India has been designated as a nodal centre for preparing flash-flood forecasts by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• India will have to develop a customised model that can issue advance warning of floods in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

Need for early warning:

• The proposed model would provide forecasts by computing the likelihood of rainfall and the soil moisture levels to warn of possible floods.

h The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organi-zation with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories.

h It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873.

h Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology(weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences a year later.

h Its current Secretary-General is PetteriTaalas and the President of the World Mete-orological Congress, its supreme body, is David Grimes.The Organization is head-quartered in Geneva, Switzerland.


August -2018



PAKISTAN HOPES TO HOST SAARC SUMMIT

• Pakistan is likely to boost its role in SAARC under the Imran Khan government which will assume charge soon. An indication on this came at the first meeting between the newly elected leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Ajay Bisaria, Indian High Commissioner.

• The summit-level meeting of the group had been uncertain since bilateral ties between India and Pakistan created a hurdle. An official source said Indian participation in the summit would ensure a visit by Prime Mr. Modi to Pakistan.


August -2018



APPOINTMENTS

VIJAY THAKUR MADE MEA SECRETARY

• The Modi administration appointed senior diplomat and now India’s Ambassador to Ireland, Vijay Thakur Singh, as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Ms. Singh will take over as Secretary from October 1 after superannuation of Preeti Saranon September 30. The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) headed by PM Narendra Modi cleared the name and subsequently the department of personnel and training (DoPT) issued notification.

AIR INDIA APPOINTS KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA, YC DEVESHWAR AS NON-OFFICIAL DIRECTORS• Renowned industrialists Kumar Mangalam Birla and

Y.C.Deveshwar were on Wednesday appointed as non-official independent directors in Air India

• Deveshwar is the chairman of ITC, a Kolkata-based company having diversified business in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector and hotels among others.

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the appointment of Birla and Deveshwar as non-official independent directors in Air India for a period of three years, the order issued by Personnel Ministry.

APPOINTMENTS

August -2018



CHIEF JUSTICE GITA MITTAL IS APPOINTED AS NEW CHIEF JUSTICE OF J&K HC

• Chief Justice Gita Mittal has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC). She is the acting Chief Justice of Delhi HC. She is the first woman Chief Justice of J&K HC.

• Justice B.D. Ahmed, the State’s last Chief Justice, was retired on March 15, 2018.

• Patna High Court Chief Justice, Rajendra Menon has been appointed as the Chief Justice Delhi HC.

UTTARAKHAND HC CHIEF JUSTICE, K M JOSEPH APPOINTED AS SUPREME COURT JUDGE

• The government appointed Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of office.

• The earlier in the day, the central government had cleared the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium to elevate Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph to the top court.

• Justice Joseph’s name was recommended for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court by the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

Collegium System

h In 2014, the parliament passed a law to replace the collegium system with National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The supreme court still continues the collegium system

VIJAY TAHILRAMANI TO TAKE OVER AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

• The Supreme Court collegium has recommended that Vijaya Kamalesh Tahilramani be made Chief Justice of the court while current Chief Justice Indira Banerjee be elevated to the Supreme Court.

APPOINTMENTS

August -2018


TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSAPPOINTMENTS

• Justice Tahilramani is the senior-most judge of the Bombay High Court and was appointed judge in 2001.

• Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani had been appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in 2015 and 2017.

S GOPAKUMAR APPOINTED AS DIRECTOR AND GENERAL MANAGER IN UIIC

• Gopakumar was serving as GIC Housing Finance Ltd is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

• United India Insurance Company (wholly owned by the Government of India) is the 2nd Largest General Insurance company in India.

GOVERNMENT APPOINTS S GURUMURTHY, SATISH MARATHE AS PART-TIME DIRECTORS ON RBI BOARD

• The government on Tuesday appointed journalist S.Gurumurthy and Satish Marathe patron of Sahakar Bharathi as part-time directors on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board after an approval from the appointments committee of the cabinet. Both appointments are for a four year term.

• S.Gurumurthy is currently the editor of Tamil political weekly Thuglaq and also the co-convenor of RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch. Marathe is the patron of Sahakar Bharati an NGO furthering the co-operative moment in India.

August -2018



NDA CANDIDATE HARIVANSH SINGH ELECTED RAJYA SABHA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

• The BJP-led NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh was elected the Rajya Sabha’s Deputy Chairman post, which fell vacant after the retirement of Congress’ PJ Kurien on July 1.

• Harivansh got 125 votes, while Congress-led UPA’s candidate BK Hariprasad got 105 votes.

• Harivansh Singh is a member of the Janata Dal (United), the BJP’s ally in Bihar.

REKHA SHARMA APPOINTED AS THE CHAIRPERSON OF NCW

• National Commission for Women member Rekha Sharma, Who stoked a controversy by suggesting abolition of confessions in churches, has been appointed as the Chairperson Of the National Commission for Women.

NEW ADVISOR IN FINANCE DEPARTMENT

• S.Nagoor Ali Jinnah has been appointed as an Advisor in the Finance Department of the State government.

• Mr.Jinnah ,who was formerly the Chief General Manager of NABARD,recited on Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at the Secretariat.

h National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development financial institution in India, headquartered at Mumbai with regional offices all over India.

h The Bank has been entrusted with “matters concerning policy, planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in rural areas in India”.

h NABARD is active in developing financial inclusion policy and is a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.

APPOINTMENTS

August -2018



ANANDIBEN PATEL TAKES ADDITIONAL CHARGE AS CHHATTISGARH GOVERNOR

h Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on Wednesday took oath as the Governor of Chhattisgarh.

h She took the additional charge of Chhattis-garh following the demise of its Governor, Balramji Dass Tandon. Anandiben will dis-charge the additional duties until the regu-lar arrangements for the office of governor of Chhattisgarh are made.

h Balramji Dass Tandon died after suffering a heart attack at the government-run Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in Raipur.

IMRAN KHAN ELECTED AS 22ND PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN, TAKE OATH ON 18TH AUGUST

• Former cricketer and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan won with 176 seats while his opponent, PML-N’s Shahbaz Sharif, secured 96 votes in the polling that took place in the National Assembly on August 17.

• Khan’s party had emerged as the single-largest in recently-concluded elections but failed to win an absolute majority.

• After the election, three major opposition parties banded together to nominate Shahbaz Sharif as a joint candidate in a bid to thwart Mr Khan.

August -2018



SATYA PAL MALIK APPOINTED AS J & K GOVERNOR

• Bihar governor Satya Pal Malik was appointed the new Governor of Jammu and Kashmir by the President.

• Mr. Malik replaces incumbent N.N. Vohra, who has occupied the J&K Raj Bhavan since 2008.

Newly Appointed Governors

State GovernorHaryana Satya Dev Narayan AryaUttar Khand Baby Rani MauryaTripura Kaptan Singh SolankiMeghalaya Tathagata RoySikkim Ganga Prasad

LALJI TANDON SWORN IN AS GOVERNOR OF BIHAR

• Lalji Tandon, the Senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, was sworn in as Governor of Bihar. Mr. Tandon was administered the oath of office by Patna High Court Chief Justice Mukesh Rasik Bhai Shah.

• He replaced Satya Pal Malik , who was appointed Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on August 21.

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, and other Ministers and leaders were present during the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhawan.

• Mr. Tandon was born in Lucknow on April 12, 1935. He started his political career in the 1970s.

• He served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council for two terms. In May 2009, he was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Lucknow.

APPOINTMENTS

August -2018



SCOTT MORRISON NAMED NEW AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER

• Scott Morrison was installed as Australia’s seventh prime minister in 11 years on Friday after a stunning Liberal party revolt instigated by hardline conservatives unseated moderate Malcolm Turnbull.

• Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, an ex-police officer and right-winger, was the driving force behind the move to oust Turnbull after a party backlash against his more liberal policies.

• Josh Frydenberg, the environment and energy minister, was selected as deputy Liberal leader.

G. SATHEESH REDDY APPOINTED AS NEW DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

ORGANISATION (DRDO) CHAIRMAN

• Satheesh Reddy is well known for his R&D in missile systems and contribution in aerospace technologies is currently employed as the Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

• He led the conceptualization, design, and development of inertial sensors, navigation schemes, algorithms systems, calibration methodologies, sensor models, simulation along with the development of satellite navigation receivers and hybrid navigation systems.

ASHOK DONGRE TAKES NEW CHARGE

• Ashok Dongre has taken over as the New Managing Director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board .

August -2018



INDIAN ECONOMIST SATYA TRIPATHI APPOINTED AS UNEP ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL

• UN Secretary General António Guterres has appointed veteran Indian development economist and UN official Satya S Tripathi as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

• He will succeed Elliott Harris of Trinidad and Tobago.

• Tripathi is possibly the third-highest ranking Indian in the UN bureaucracy after Atul Khare, an under-secretary general who heads the department of operations, and Nikhil Seth, an assistant secretary general who headed the world body’s Geneva-based UN Institute for Training and Research in 2015.

About UNEP

h The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nationsand coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

h It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first director, as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972 and has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies but international talks on specialized issues, such as addressing climate change or combating desertification, are overseen by other UN organizations, like the Bonn-based Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

FIRST INDIAN TO BE APPOINTED A COUNCIL MEMBER OF ICANN PANEL COUNTRY CODE

NAMES SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION (CCNSO)

• Dr. Ajay Data from Jaipur, the Founder and CEO of Data XGen Plus, has become the first Indian to be appointed a council member of ICANN panel Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO).

• He has got a 2-year term and will take up the position during ICANN’s 63rd Annual General Meeting in Spain in October 2018.

APPOINTMENTS

August -2018



THE BRAND AMBASSADOR FOR GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

• On August 14, Film Actor Akshay Kumar has been appointed the brand ambassador for Government of India (GoI)’s special road safety awareness campaign. As part of the campaign “Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha”, three short films starring Akshay as traffic police inspector has been released to generate public awareness towards road safety.

NEW CHAIRMAN OF TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA(TRAI)

• Dr. Ram Sewak Sharma has been reappointed the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI) till 30th September 2020. He was in July 2015 named as the TRAI chief for a three- year period.

August -2018



LATEST COURT VERDICTS

CABINET APPROVED BILL TO RESTORE THE ORIGINAL PROVISIONS OF THE SC AND ST

• Cabinet has approved to introduce a Bill to restore the original provisions of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The Supreme Court has ruled out the Bill on 20th March. The Union Cabinet will be introducing the Bill in Parliament during the ongoing session.

• The Amendment Bill introduces three new clauses after Section 18 of the original Act.

The three clauses are:

h The preliminary enquiry shall not be required for registration of a First Information Report against any person

h The arrest of a person accused of having committed an offence under the Act would not require any approval

h The provisions of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which deals with anticipatory bail, shall not apply to a case under this Act, in spite of any judgment or order of any Court.

POLITICAL SCIENCE


August -2018



SC SLAPS FINE OF RS 50,000 EACH ON THREE STATES • The Supreme Court slapped Rs 50,000 each as costs on Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and

Uttrakhand for their failure to create a online link with a chart meant for monitoring the implementation and hygiene of mid-day meal schemes in government-run schools.

• A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta expressed displeasure that these three “defaulting states” have not yet complied with the directions of the apex court in this regard.

MADRAS HIGH COURT SUSPENDS RAGHUPATHI COMMISSION

• The Madras high court directed state government to suspend within a week, the Justice R. Raghupathi Commission of Inquiry, which was assigned the task of probing alleged irregularities in the construction of the new secretariat building at Omandurar Government estate, and stop all further allotment of funds and government facilities, till the final disposal of the writ petitions.

• Passing an order on the stay vacate petition filed by state government Justice S.M Subramaniam directed the Commission of Inquiry and Justice Raghupathi to hand over all records, reports of the investigating agencies, statements and evidence collected, to the state within two weeks.

TOP COP OPENS SPECIAL CELL TO ADDRESS WOMEN ISSUES

• The centre, which is opened on the purview of National Commission for Women, Tamil Nadu Police and Tata Institute of Social Science, would function at the premises of Thousand Lights police station.

• Such special centres are opened in Salem, Madurai, and Thirunelveli apart from Chennai.

• “Police officials at all-women police stations and other police stations should refer the aggrieved women to the centre.

• The police also should try to make arrangements to invite the experts to their stations if needed,” commissioner A.K. Viswanathan said after inaugurating the centre.


August -2018



BASHA SANGAM MOU WITH TANJORE TAMIL UNIVERSITY

• To propagate the growth of Tamil languages in Northern states by the Basha Sangam MoU with Tanjore Tamil University .

• In order to integrate all languages in National level Basha Sangam has been created in 1976 at Allahabad

• To honour t amil Poets Thiruvallur , Namakkal kavignar Ramallingam Pillai , Bharathiyar, Bharathithasan.

CHENNAI SCHOOL STUDENTS MADE ATTEMPT A GUINNESS RECORD

• Chennai MMDA Government Higher Secondary School Students tried to attempt Guinness record in Breast cancer awareness gathering.

• It was started in Chennai, Arumpakkam, and 2000 students wear pink ribbon on their dress to create and reminisce about awareness on World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7).

COMMITTEE HAS BEEN CONSTITUTED TO FLOODWATERS FROM KERALA-TAMIL

NADU INTER-STATE PROJECTS• The Central government has constituted a coordination committee headed by the Central

Water Commission Chairman “Narendra Kumar” to coordinate the discharge of floodwaters from inter-State projects involving Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Mullaperiyar and Aliyar.

• The Chairmanof the CWC will monitor the situation at Mullaperiyar dam in view of rising water level andcontinued heavy inflow.

BHASKAR RAMAMURTHY COMMITTEE• The Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (HRD) has proposed to set

up a 5-member committee to suggest changes to the JEE (Advanced) examination in the wake of an inadequate number of candidates qualifying the entrance test this year.


August -2018



POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL SYSTEM IN INDIA

FIRST TERM WOMAN RAJYA SABHA MEMBER PRESIDES OVER QUESTION HOUR

• A record was created in the Rajya Sabha when first-term woman member Kahkashan Perween presided over the Question Hour.

• This was for the first time that a first-term woman member had presided over the House proceedings during the Question Hour.

• Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, after the Zero Hour, announced that Ms Perween would preside over the proceedings of the House during the Question Hour.

• Ms Parween is the only woman member currently on the panel of Vice-chairpersons of the RajyaSabha.

• She is a politician from Janata Dal (United) party, is a Member of the Parliament of India representing Bihar in the RajyaSabha, the upper house of the Parliament.

RAJYA SABHA PASSED THE CONSTITUTION (123RD AMENDMENT) BILL, 2018

• RajyaSabha passed the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2018 unanimously.

• The Bill gives statutory powers to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

• The Bill was passed in LokSabha with more than a two-thirds majority on 2nd August 2018.

• It was recommended that the government should make public the caste census findings, based on which the reservation policy should be formulated.

• The demand for having a woman member in the NCBC would be considered and the other demand that one member in the five-member body must be from the minority community was dropped.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN INDIA

August -2018



h National Commission for Backward Classes is a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment established on 14 August 1993.

h It was constituted pursuant to the provisions of the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.

JUVENILE JUSTICE AMENDMENT BILL, 2018 INTRODUCED IN LOK SABHA

• The government introduced Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) amendment bill, 2018 in LokSabha which seeks to empower district magistrates to pass orders for adoption of children to reduce the time taken for issuing such directions.

• The JJ Amendment Bill, 2018 was introduced by women and child development Minister Maneka Gandhi.

GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES 4 GST AMENDMENT BILLS

• The government introduced four Bills seeking to amend the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws that will make return forms simpler and raise the turnover threshold for availing composition scheme to Rs.1.5 crore.

• Finance Minister PiyushGoyal said the amendment Bills — the Central GST (Amendment) Bill, the Integrated GST (Amendment) Bill, the GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill and the Union Territory GST (Amendment) Bill — were primarily aimed at helping the MSME sector and small traders.

h Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) levied in India on the supply of goods and services.

h GST is levied at every step in the production process, but is refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the final consumer.

h Goods and services are divided into five tax slabs for collection of tax - 0%, 5%, 12%,18% and 28%. Petroleum products, alcoholic drinks, electricity, and real estate are taxed separately by the individual state governments

h There is a special rate of 0.25% on rough precious and semi-precious stones and 3% on gold

h Pre-GST, the statutory tax rate for most goods was about 26.5%, Post-GST, most goods are expected to be in the 18% tax ran

h The tax came into effect from July 1, 2017 through the implementation of One Hundred and First Amendment of the Constitution of India by the Indian government.

h The tax replaced existing multiple cascading taxes levied by the central and state governments.


August -2018



SC JUNKS ‘ONE STATE ONE VOTE’ PROPOSAL OF LODHA PANEL

• The Supreme Court finalised a new charter for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) while rejecting the ‘one State one vote’ recommendation of the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee and altering the cooling-off period for cricket bosses.

• Softening the rigour of the committee’s recommendations, a three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, disagreed with Justice Lodha that cricket could prosper only if the BCCI was represented by every State and Union Territory in the country.

• The former CJI had relegated cricket associations to the status of associate members.

• The court restored full BCCI memberships to two associations in Gujarat and Maharashtra each.

h The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India.

h The board was formed in December 1928 as a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.

h It is a consortium of state cricket associations and the state associations select their representatives who in turn elect the BCCI officials.

TRIPLE TALAQ BILL BLOCKED, DEFERRED TILL NEXT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT

• The government failed to get the draft of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 or Triple Talaq Bill, as it is commonly known, passed in the Upper House of Parliament .

• The Bill was deferred to the winter session of Parliament after the Opposition parties failed to reach a consensus. The disagreement, as per reports, is over provisions such as granting bail to the husband accused of giving instant divorce or ‘triple talaq’ when he agrees to pay compensation to the wife.

• A day after the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Triple Talaq Bill or the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 to include the provision of bail besides allowing reconciliation proceedings among other changes. It will be tabled in Rajya Sabha.


August -2018



Triple Talaq

h Triple Talaq, also known as talaq-e-biddat, instant divorce and talaq-e-mughalla-zah (irrevocable divorce), is a form of Islamic divorce which has been used by Muslims in India, especially adherents of Hanafi Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence.

h It allows any Muslim man to legally divorce his wife by stating the word talaq (the Ara-bic word for “divorce”) three times in oral, written, or more recently, electronic form

BILL IN LOK SABHA TO REMOVE LEPROSY AS A GROUND FOR DIVORCE

• Leprosy could soon be removed as a ground for divorce from statute books.

• The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 introduced in Lok Sabha seeks to amend five personal laws -- the Divorce Act (for Christians), the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, the Hindu Marriage Act, the Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act -- to strike down leprosy as a ground for seeking divorce.

• According to the bill, introduced by Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary, the provision of leprosy as a ground for divorce was part of the laws because when these acts came into being, leprosy was incurable.

• “Leprosy patients were isolated and segregated from society as the leprosy was not curable and the society was hostile to them. However, as a result of intensive healthcare and availability of modern medicine to cure the disease, the attitude of the society towards them began to change “ recites the bill .

CJI INAUGURATED A NEW COURT COMPLEX AT HUBBALLI

• The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DipakMisra inaugurated the new court complex in Hubballi, Karnataka.

• During the ceremony, the CJI has suggested the government to appoint graduates from specialised disciplines, other than law, in district courts in order to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.

• He recited thatMBA graduates can be appointed as court managers so that they could operate as facilitators of cases, plan the hearing of different cases and so on.


August -2018



AHEAD OF “KHALISTAN RALLY” INDIA ANNOUNCES GURU FETE

• Hours ahead of the pro-Khalistan rally in London, External Affairs Minister Sushman Swaraj announced that all Indian Diplomatic missions would celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikh faith Guru Nanak.

• The move is seen as a counter to the rally.

• India issued a demarche over the ‘Khalistani rally’, intended to drum up support for and awareness of a non-binding referendum on a Sikh homeland in 2020.

Guru Nanak

h Guru Nanak About this sound pronunciation, IAST: Gurū Nānak) (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539) was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Kartik Pooranmashi, the full-moon day in the month of Katak, October–November.

CAN’T EXCLUDE CREAMY LAYER OF SC/ST FROM QUOTA IN PROMOTIONS

• The Centre recited the Supreme Court that the creamy layer concept cannot be applied to deny benefits of quota in promotions to government employees of SC/ST community as the stigma of caste and backwardness is still attached to them.

• Attorney General K K Venugopal recited a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that there is no judgment which says that affluent people of the SC/ST community can be denied quota benefits by applying creamy layer concept.

• Venugopal was responding to a question whether the creamy layer concept can be applied to exclude persons who have come up to ensure that the backward among the SC/ST communities can reap the benefits of quota.

• Nagaraj Case 2006, Indira Sawhney (or) Mandal Commission Case 1992 cases help to predicts backward classes.

h Creamy layer is a term used in Indian politics to refer to the relatively forward and better educated members of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) who are not eligible for government-sponsored educational and professional benefit programs.

h The term was introduced by the Sattanathan Commission in 1971, which directed that the “creamy layer” should be excluded from the reservations (quotas) of civil posts.


August -2018



NOTA OPTION NOT APPLICABLE FOR RAJYA SABHA ELECTIONS: SUPREME COURT

• The ruling of ‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option was made by a bench of Justices comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.

• The NOTA option is meant only for universal adult suffrage and direct elections and not for the polls held by the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote as done in the Rajya Sabha.

h In a clarification released in 2013, ECI has stated that votes polled for NOTA cannot be considered for determining the forfeiture of security deposit.

h In 2014, ECI introduced NOTA in Rajya Sabha elections.

h In 2015, Election Commission of India announced the symbol for ‘None of the Above’ option, with the design being done by National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.

h Earlier, there were demands that Election Commission allot the symbol of a donkey for NOTA.


August -2018



GOVT - WELFARE ORIENTED GOVT SCHEMES, THEIR UTILITY

UJJWALA YOJANA TO ACHIEVE ITS TARGET OF PROVIDING 5 CRORES FREE LPG CONNECTIONS TO POOR FAMILIES

• Prime Minister NarendraModi’s pet project UjjwalaYojana will achieve its target of providing 5 crores free LPG connections to poor families.

• The main aim of bringing clean cooking fuel to poor households identified according to the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).

• More than 44 percent of Ujjwala beneficiaries are currently are from SC/ST communities.

h The PradhanMantriUjjwalaYojana Scheme aims to provide clean fuel to women who are below poverty line who generally use unclean cooking fuels that does more harm than good and replace the same with LPG.

h Through this UjjwalaYojana scheme, the Indian government hopes to provide over 5 crore connections of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) to women who are a part of families that are below poverty line.

h Some of the important objectives of this scheme include:

h Protecting the health of women and empowering them

h Curbing health issues that result from using fossil fuels and other fuels for cooking

h Reducing casualties that occur as a result of unclean fuels used for cooking

h Controlling respiratory issues that occur due to indoor pollution as a result of using fossil fuel that does not burn cleanly.

h Preventing the degradation of purity of environment that is compromised by widespread usage of unclean cooking fuel.

SCHEMES

August -2018



KARNATAKA GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES SWACHHA MEVA JAYATE

• In order to achieve the status of Open Defecation Free (ODF), Karnataka launched “Swachha meva Jayate” a rural cleanliness and sanitation campaign.

• This campaign will aim to boost the Swachh Survkekshan Grameen in all the districts with the help of school children.

• Since the inception of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the government of Karnataka has constructed a total of 22 lakh toilets in 29,736 villages.

• The state needs another five lakh toilets in its rural areas before October 2 to achieve ODF status.

ANDHRA PRADESH GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED ‘MUKHYA MANTRI YUVANESTHAM’

• Under the scheme, an allowance of Rs 1000 per month will be provided to unemployed youth in the state.

• About 12 lakh youths in the age group of 22-35 years will get the benefit of the scheme.

• Andhra Pradesh CM - Chandrababu Naidu.

MUKHYAMANTRI KANYA UTTHAN YOJANA WAS LAUNCHED IN BIHAR

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched ‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana’, a scheme for the girl child. The scheme will provide Rs. 54,100 for a girl child from her birth until she graduates.

• This is to express the State government’s resolve for the empowerment of women. The ‘scheme will be run by three departments namely education, health and social welfare.

• The Chief Minister also said that the amount under the ‘Bicycle Yojna’ will be increased from Rs.2500 to Rs.3000.

PROJECT ‘SWAYAM’ LAUNCHED BY HRD MINISTRY

• ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM), aims to provide one integrated platform and portal for online courses.

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• This course covers all higher education subjects and skill sector courses.

• The main objective is to ensure that every student in the country has access to the best quality higher education at the affordable cost.

h The Ministry is headed by the cabinet-ranked Minister of Human Resources Development, a member of the Council of Ministers. The current HRD minister is Prakash Javadekar.

h The Ministry of Human Resource Development, formerly Ministry of Education (until 25 September 1985), is responsible for the development of human resources in India. The Ministry is divided into two departments: the Department of School Education and Literacy, which deals with primary, secondary and higher secondary education, adult education and literacy, and the Department of Higher Education, which deals with university education, technical education, scholarship etc.

h The erstwhile Ministry of Education now functions under these two departments, as of 26 September 1985.

CABINET EXTENDED PMGSY BEYOND THE 12TH FIVE YEAR PLAN PERIOD

• The government approved that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) can be continued even beyond the 12th five year plan period. PMGSY was to establish rural road connectivity. It will be connecting 38,412 habitations at an estimated cost of Rs.84,934 crore. In this, the central government would share Rs.54,900 crore and the state would share Rs.30,034 crore.

• According to PMGSY, 6,58,143 km road was planned to be completed. Against the target, 5,50,601 km road length was completed. Under, PMGSY-II, against the target length of 50,000 km, around 32,100 km road length has been sanctioned in 13 States.

h This Centrally Sponsored Schemewas introduced in 2000 by the then-prime minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee.

h The Assam Tribune has reported that the scheme has started to change the lifestyle of many villagers as it has resulted in new roads and upgrade of certain inter-village routes in Manipur.

h The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)- Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Scheme is a nationwide plan in India to provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages.

h Of 178,000 (1.7 lakh) habitations with a population of above 500 in the plains and above 250 in the hilly areas planned to be connected by all-weather roads, 82% were already connected by December 2017 and work-in-progress on the remaining 47,000 habitations was on-track for completion by March 2019.

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COMMERCE & INDUSTRY MINISTER SURESH PRABHU LAUNCHED MOBILE APP ‘NIRYAT MITRA’

• The app developed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) is available both on Android and on IOS platforms.

• The app provides a wide range of information required to undertake international trade right from the policy provisions for export and import, applicable GST rate, available export incentives, tariff, preferential tariff, market access requirements – SPS (Sanitary and Phypo Sanitary) and TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) measures.

h Federation of Indian Export Organisations is a trade promotion organisation in India, jointly established in 1965 by the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of India and private trade and industry.

h The organisation is responsible for representing and assisting Indian entrepreneurs and exporters in foreign markets.

PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA ABHIYAN WILL BE LAUNCHED ON 25TH SEPTEMBER

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAA) or Ayushman Bharat scheme will be launched on 25th September.

• The scheme aims to provide a healthcare cover of Rs.5 lakh per family per annum. The scheme is expected to benefit more than 10 crore poor.

AYUSHMAN BHARAT SCHEME

h The scheme will be applicable only to the poor who are identified through Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) database

h The benefits of the scheme are portable across the country

h The scheme also allows the poor people to benefit from cashless healthcare services from a public/private hospital

h Around 1 lakh ‘Ayushman Mitras’ was set at the hospitals as part of the scheme to assist patients enrolled under the scheme

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TELANGANA CM LAUNCHES INSURANCE SCHEME FOR FARMERS

• Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao launched two new schemes including the Rs. Five lakh insurance cover for farmers.

• Under the ‘Rythu Bima’ scheme, every farmer would get life insurance cover of Rs. Five lakh.

• The state government has already paid Rs. 636 crore towards premium for the scheme.

• The government would bear an annual premium of Rs. 2271.50 per farmer.

• Under the economic support scheme for backward classes, the government would provide a grant of Rs. 50,000 to the beneficiaries to start small businesses.

• The government is setting up a mega textile park in Warangal to provide employment to weavers.

• ‘Textile hubs’ are being set up at Sircilla and Gadwal.

• The chief minister said the state government is spending Rs. 2,000 crore on minorities welfare and development adding it has been decided to set up a special IT park for IT industrialists from the minority sections.

SWADESH DARSHAN SCHEME: FIRST PROJECT NORTH EAST CIRCUIT: IMPHAL

AND KHONGJOM LAUNCHED• The first project under Swadesh Darshan Scheme ‘North East Circuit: Imphal and Khongjom’

was inaugurated in Manipur.

• The project covers two sites Kangla Fort and Khongjom in Manipur. Under this project, Union Tourism Ministry has carried out works such as restoration and improvement of outer and inner moat of old Govindajee Temple and rejuvenation of sacred ponds, reconstruction of old rampart, among others.

SWADESH DARSHAN SCHEME

h The scheme was implemented Union Tourism Ministry with an objective to develop theme-based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner.

h It also has provision for leveraging voluntary funding under CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Central Public Sector Undertakings and corporate sector. The funding of projects under this scheme vary from state to state.It is finalised on the basis of detailed project reports prepared by Programme Management Consultant (PMC) which is national level consultant for implementing the scheme.

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GOVERNMENT UNVEILS DRAFT UDAN 2.0 SCHEME FOR INTERNATIONAL ROUTES

• The Centre unveiled a draft scheme for extending the affordable air travel programme UDAN to international circuits, with state governments identifying the routes for operation.

• The draft International Air Connectivity (IAC) scheme envisages to increase the international ticketing to 20 crore by 2027.

• “The scheme is to be made operational only for states, which demonstrate their commitment to implement and provide the requisite support for promoting operations under the scheme,”

• Stake holders inputs and comment have been sought as initial itself .

• The Assam government has, in fact, announced Rs.100 crore as viability gap funding to promote international air connectivity from Guwahati.

UDAN SCHEME

h UDAN-RCS, UDAN (UdeDesh ka AamNaagrik) is a regional airport development and “Regional Connectivity Scheme” (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of “Let the common citizen of the country fly”, aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and states of India.

UNION CABINET APPROVES EARTH SCIENCES MINISTRY’S UMBRELLA SCHEME ‘O-SMART’

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 29, 2018 gave its approval for implementation of an umbrella scheme ‘Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART)’.

• The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the scheme for implementation during the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 at an overall cost of Rs 1623 crore.

• The scheme covers a total of 16 sub-projects, which address ocean development activities such as services, technology, resources, observations and science.

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About Ocean Policy in India

h In accordance with the Ocean Policy statement enacted in November 1982, the Ministry has been implementing a number of multi-disciplinary projects in the field of ocean development primarily to:

- Provide a suite of Ocean Information services

- Develop technology for sustainable harnessing the ocean resources

- Promote front-ranking research

- Conduct ocean scientific ocean surveys

SMARTPHONE DISTRIBUTION SCHEME ‘MOBILE TIHAR’ UNDER THE

SANCHAR KRANTI YOJNA (SKY)

• The Chhattisgarh government has launched a smartphone distribution scheme ‘Mobile Tihar’ under the Sanchar Kranti Yojna (SKY).

• The scheme is for distribution of smartphones to women and students, covering over 50 Lakh beneficiaries.

• As part of the scheme, 556 new mobile towers will be installed across the state. ‘Mobile Tihar’ was launched by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, along with National Award-winning actress KanganaRanaut on July 31.

2018 INDEPENDENCE DAY PROGRAMME LIVE ONLINE

• Prasar Bharati has tied up with Google and its video sharing platform YouTube to telecast the 72ndIndependence Day programme live online on 15th August 2018 to increase digital presence.

• PrasarBharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has stated that the live stream window will be seen on thehomepage of Google itself so that people do not have to look for a separate link to go to theYoutube channel.

• In a first-of-its-kind digital drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from Red Fort will be live streamed on both Google and YouTube.

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‘DIGITAL NORTH EAST VISION 2022’• The document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’

has been released by Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in Guwahati, Assam.

• Under this vision, the Union government will invest nearly Rs. 10,000 crore in the region over the next 4 years to implement more than 400 projects.

• The Vision Document aims to empower the people of the North Eastern region. As part of the initiative, Mr. Prasad also inaugurated the first electronics manufacturing cluster in the northeastern region in Guwahati on 10th August 2018.

WIPRO HAS LAUNCHED SANTOOR WOMEN’S SCHOLARSHIP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

• The Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting will offer 3-year Santoor women’s scholarship for higher education to girls from economically weaker families in the three southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

• Approx 900 girls from the 3 states will be given Santoor scholarship, with Rs 24,000 for each of them per annum to do under-graduation.

INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (IWAI) HAS LAUNCHED

• The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has launched a dedicated portal – Forum of Cargo Owners and Logistics Operators (FOCAL) – to connect cargo owners and shippers with real time data on availability of vessels.

• The landmark e-connect measure will enable direct interaction among the vessel operators,shippers and cargo owners.

• It has been designed and developed by the in-house IT Department and the traffic wing of IWAI as part of its preparedness for optimal use of its ongoing capacity development on various National Waterways.

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NITI AAYOG HAS LAUNCHED GLOBAL MOBILITY HACKATHON

• NITI Aayog has launched a global mobility hackathon “Move Hack” to crowdsource solutions for future of mobility in India. Focused on 10 themes and open to individuals from all nationalities, the hackathon will have an online leg, followed by a Singapore leg, and the finals in New Delhi.

• The purpose of MoveHack is to bring about innovative, dynamic and scalable solutions to problems pertaining to mobility.

FIRST IN THE EASE OF LIVING INDEX 2018• The Ease of Living Index 2018 has been launched by Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister

of State (Independent Charge) for Housing & Urban Affairs, in New Delhi on August 13.

• In it, Punehas been ranked first, followed by Navi Mumbai, Greater Mumbai, Triputi, Chandigarh, Thane, Raipur, Indore, Vijaywada and Bhopal.

• The survey was conducted on 111 cities in the country.

• The Index is based on four parameters — governance, social institutions, economic and physical infrastructure. Chennai has been ranked 14 and New Delhi 65.

CLEANLINESS SURVEY FOR INDIAN RAILWAYS

• The 2018 cleanliness survey for Indian Railways has been conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) i.e. announced by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on August 13.

• Amongthe A-1 category stations, Jodhpur has been declared the cleanest railway station in the A1 category,followed by Jaipur and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh).

• In A category stations, Marwar (Rajasthan) has been placed at first position, followed by Phulera(Rajasthan) and Warangal (Telangana).

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GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHICAL LANDMARKS

LOGO AND TAGLINE FOR GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS LAUNCHED

• Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a logo and tagline for Geographical Indications (GI) to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country.

• The slogan for the GI tag is- ‘Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India’.

• A GI product is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.

h A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin.

GEOGRAPHY

August -2018



ECONOMICS

CURRENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

T.N. ECONOMY GROWTH RATE 8.09% IN 2017 TO 18

• Tamil Nadu has clocked a growth rate of 8.09% in 2017-18, staging a recovery from the effects of November 2016 demonetisation and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017.

• The State government data, approved by the Centre, revealed that this has been largely due to the double-digit growth rate of agriculture and allied activities aided by the other two sectors – industry and services.

h Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) levied in India on the supply of goods and services. GST is levied at every step in the production process, but is refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the final consumer.

h Goods and services are divided into five tax slabs for collection of tax - 0%, 5%, 12%,18% and 28%. Petroleum products, alcoholic drinks, electricity, and real estate are taxed separately by the individual state governments.

h There is a special rate of 0.25% on rough precious and semi-precious stones and 3% on gold. In addition a cess of 22% or other rates on top of 28% GST applies on few items like aerated drinks, luxury cars and tobacco products.

h Pre-GST, the s tatutory tax rate for most goods was about 26.5%, Post-GST, most goods are expected to be in the 18% tax range.

h The tax came into effect from July 1, 2017 through the implementation of One Hundred and First Amendment of the Constitution of India by the Indian government.

h The tax replaced existing multiple cascading taxes levied by the central and state governments.


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‘GST SLABS MAY BE REDUCED TO THREE IN LONG-TERM’

• Simplification of GST is an ongoing process and an ideal process for a long-term solution will lead to lesser slabs, Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser, recited by Union Finance Ministry.

• According to him, an ideal scenario is one where tax slabs are categorised into a “low 5 per cent”, a 15 per cent slab covering most goods and services, and finally another with 25 per cent. Apart from these rates, there will be a zero tax or exempted slab under GST.

• The current GST rate structure has four tax slabs - namely 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. This apart there is an exempted category of goods and services which have no tax on it, and a set of luxury goods and services which entail a cess over and above the 28 per cent tax rate.

PRESIDENT NOD TO LAW TO DETER FUGITIVE ECONOMIC OFFENDERS FROM FLEEING COUNTRY

• President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to a law that will deter fugitive economic offenders to evade legal process in India and flee the country.

• A fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom warrants for arrest is issued for his involvement in select economic offences involving amount of at least Rs 100 crore or more and has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution.

• The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 has got the nod from the president, according to an official order.

• Mallaya Tops the list of India’s 28 fugitive economy offenders.

• The new legislation will prevent big economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from fleeing the country and evading the law.

• The new law allows designated special court to declare a person as fugitive economic offender and to confiscate his property, including ‘benami’ ones.

• “All the rights and title in the confiscated property shall, from the date of the confiscation order, vest in the central government, free from all encumbrances,” the Act recited .

• The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 25. The Lok Sabha had cleared the measure on July 19.


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• The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 was introduced in the LokSabha, (lower house of the Parliament of India), on 12 March 2018.

• It seeks to confiscate properties and assets of economic offenders that evade prosecution by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.

• Economic offences with a value of more than Rs 100 crores, which are listed in the schedule of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, come under the purview of this law.

• As per the Bill, a court (‘Special Court’ under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) has to declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender. [1] On 25 July 2018, the Parliament passed the bill.

GOOGLE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES ANDROID 9.0 NAMED ‘PIE’

• Google announced ‘Pie’ as the name for the latest version of the Android operating system, succeeding Android Oreo.

• The Android P or ‘Pie’ version has begun rolling out to Pixel phones and will be available to other devices later this year.

Other Important Highlights

h Since Android 1.5, Google has named each version of its mobile operating system after a sweet food — moving sequentially through the letters of the alphabet.

h Android 1.5 Cupcake (April 2009)

h Android 1.6 Donut (September 2009)

h Android 2.0/2.1 Éclair (October 2009, January 2010)

h Android 2.2 Froyo (May 2010)

h Android 2.3 Gingerbread (December 2010)

h Android 3.0/3.1/3.2 Honeycomb (February 2011, May 2011, July 2011)

h Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (October 2011)

h Android 4.1/4.2/4.3 Jelly Bean (July 2012, November 2012, July 2013)


August -2018



IKEA OPENED ITS FIRST STORE IN INDIA• IKEA, Swedish home furnishings major,

opened its first store in Hyderabad, India.

• IKEA has already been sourcing for the past three decades in India. It will be opening its other branches in Mumbai, Bengaluru and National Capital Region.

• The store is of 400,000 sq. ft located at the heart of city’s IT hub. IKEA in Hyderabad employs 950 people directly, half of them women, and 1,500 indirectly in services and expects to host close to 7 million visitors each year.

h IKEA is a Swedish-founded multinational group, that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories. It has been the world’s largest furniture retailer since at least 2008.

h It was founded in Sweden in 1943 by then-17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, who was listed by Forbes in 2015 as one of the ten richest people in the world, worth more than $40 billion.

TAMIL NADU TOPS IN VALUE OF BANKING CRIMES THIS YEAR

• Tamil Nadu has the dubious distinction of topping in terms of value of banking-related crimes so far this financial year.

• For the period April-June 2018, the amount involved in incidents of robbery/dacoity/burglary/theft in Tamil Nadu is 8.24 crore, according to data sourced from Reserve Bank of India and presented in Parliament.

• The data was presented by Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, in reply to a question on ATM robberies. The Minister recited specific data on incidents of ATM robberies was not available and went on to present data on robbery/dacoity/burglary/theft.


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P.V. SINDHU, AKSHAY KUMAR, SALMAN KHAN RANKED IN TOP 10

• Forbes released its top 10 highest list on different categories and professions.

• Together the top 10 highest paid actors got $748.5 million between June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018.

• Only two Bollywood actors to make it to the list.

• Akshay Kumar has emerged as the seventh highest-paid actor in the world by earning $40.5 million in 2018. He came in 10th rank in 2017.

• Salman Khan has been ranked in the ninth place with $38.5 million. He remained in the same spot as 2017.

Rank Actor1 George Clooney2 Dwayne Johnson3 Robert Downey Jr4 Chris Hemsworth5 Jackie Chan6 Will Smith7 Akshay Kumar8 Adam Sandler9 Salman Khan10 Chris Evans

G20 DIGITAL ECONOMY MINISTERIAL MEETING HELD IN ARGENTINA

• The 2018 theme of the meeting was ‘Building consensus for fair and sustainable development’.

• The main three key issues for the agenda were future of work, infrastructure for development, and sustainable food future.

• It was held in Salta, Argentina.

About G20

h The Group of G20 comprises of total 19 countries plus European Union (EU), representing 85% of global GDP, 80% of international trade, 65% of the world’s population.

h In 2008, the first G20 Leaders Summit was held in Washington DC, US.


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NEW ECONOMIC POLICY AND GOVT. SECTOR

INDIA TO CLOCK 7.5% GDP GROWTH, RECOVERY TO REMAIN ROBUST: MORGAN STANLEY

• India’s economic growth momentum was to pick up further in the April-June period and the country is expected to clock GDP growth of 7.5 per cent in this financial year, recite by Morgan Stanley report.

• In the January-March quarter, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at the fastest pace in seven quarters at 7.7 per cent on robust performance by manufacturing and service sectors as well as good farm output.

• Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time.

• Nominal GDP estimates are commonly used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region, and to make international comparisons.

• Nominal GDP per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries;

• Therefore using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) is arguably more useful when comparing differences in living standards between different nations.

GST COUNCIL MEETS IN NEW DELHI TO DISCUSS MSME SECTOR’S SUGGESTIONS AND CONCERNS

• The 29th Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council meeting to be held and various issues will be discussed on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.


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• The meeting is headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

• In its last meeting, the GST Council reduced tax rates on over 80 items and exempted sanitary napkins, rakhis, stone, marble, wooden deities and Saal leaves from GST.

STATE BANK OF INDIA RANKED AS INDIAS MOST PATRIOTIC BRAND

• State Bank of India has been got its first place in National Reputation Agency.

• It was conducted by British Intelligence Government through online.

• SBI got 16% supports by the people, which include the National level Agencies with the admires of the peoples.

• Second place given to TATA Motors and Pathanjali, which include 8% of the desirable peoples on it.

• Totally in 11 parts but the considerable agencies are 152, but depends upon the Finance Ministry, SBI and LIC got their places to 47 % and 16% by the people.

• By the basis of Automobile parts, TATA Motors got the second place.

• On the basis of Food Ministry, Amul agency got its first place.

h State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company.

h It is a government-owned corporation headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company is ranked 217th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations as of 2017.

h The Bank of Madras merged into the other two “presidency banks” in British India, the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay, to form the Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became the State Bank of India in 1955.


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URJIT PATEL UNVEILS UPI 2.0 WITH ENHANCED FEATURES DEVELOPED BY NPCI

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Urjit Patel launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) 2.0 developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

• The UPI 2.0 has enhanced features such as “invoice in the inbox, signed intent or QR, UPI mandate with blocking of funds and UPI for overdraft account”.

• The first version of UPI was launched in 2016.

• Patel also outlined the need for ensuring adequate importance on cyber security and noted that costs should not be an inhibiting factor for the same,

• NPCI recited that the UPI has grown considerably post demonetisation and has been the catalyst for retail payment systems with many banks building products around the UPI.

PM MODI TO LAUNCH INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 21 will launch long-awaited India Post Payments

Bank (IPPB) that will have at least one branch in every district and focus on financial services in rural areas.

• “The Prime Minister has given time on August 21 to launch IPPB. Two branches of the bank are already operational.

• Rest of the 648 branches will be launched across country in every district.

• IPPB will leverage reach of 1.55 lakh post office branches to provide banking and financial service to people in rural area.


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TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSINTERNATIONAL

SCIENCE

LATEST INVENTIONS ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FICCI LADIES ORGANISATION LAUNCHES WELLNESS APP • FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), the women’s wing of Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry (FICCI), has launched Wellness for Women (WOW), a mobile app, in tie-up with Apollo Hospitals.

• The member only application powered by ‘Ask Apollo’, is a web and mobile enabled patient centric service that will offer daily health tips, health records of patients, doctor appointments, order wellness products and medicines online.

• This app is for busy women who have no time to care about their health and fitness recited by Pinky Reddy, National President.

Federation of Indian Champers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI)

h The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business organisations in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India.

h It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, including SMEs and MNCs.

h The chamber has an indirect membership of over 250,000 companies from various regional chambers of commerce.

h It is involved in sector specific business polus building, and business promotion and networking.

h It is headquartered in the national capital New Delhi and has presence in 12 states in India and 8 countries across the world.


August -2018



NASA SELECTS INDIAN ORIGIN SUNITA WILLIAMS AMONG 9 ASTRONAUTS FOR HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT• Williams has been named for the Boeing programme to the

ISS (International Space Station), the first test flight scheduled to take place in the middle of 2019.

• The eight active NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronauts and one former astronaut-turned-corporate crew member will launch on Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Dragon capsules to the International Space Station beginning in 2019.

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was started in 1958 as a part of the United States government.NASA is in charge of U.S. science and technology that has to do with airplanes or space.

h President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science.

h The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

h The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958. Since that time, most U.S. space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylabspace station, and later the Space Shuttle.

h Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles.

The Eight other astronauts are:

h Victor Glover,

h Robert Behnken,

h Michael Hopkins,

h Douglas Hurley,

h Eric Boe,

h Christopher Ferguson,

h Josh Cassada, and

h Nicole Mann.


August -2018



WORLD’S 1ST HINDI-SPEAKING ROBOT RASHMI• Ranchi-based software developer Ranjit Srivastava is

developing the world’s first Hindi-speaking humanoid robot called Rashmi.

• The robot will speak Bhojpuri, Marathi, and English, and is equipped with facial expressions and recognition systems.

INDIA’S MOON MISSION CHANDRAYAAN-2 LAUNCH POSTPONED AGAIN TILL JANUARY 2019

• Further delay in the launch of India’s second mission to the moon Chandrayaan-2 and it may be no sooner than January

• The postponement of the ambitious mission from October comes in the wake of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facing two setbacks in less than a year.

• The ISRO had launched GSAT-6A, a military communication satellite, but lost communication with it.

• Following this, the ISRO also recalled the launch of GSAT-11 from from Kourou, French Guiana, for additional technical checks.

• Last September, the PSLV- C39 mission, carrying the IRNSS-1H navigation satellite, failed after the heat shield refused to open and release the satellite.

h The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore. Its vision is to “harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.”

h Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai. The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalized space activities in India.

h It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.

h ISRO built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975. It was named after the Mathematician Aryabhata. In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3.


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ISRO PLANS TO TELECAST ITS OWN ISRO TV CHANNEL

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to celebrate Vikram Sarabhai centenary celebration starting in August 2019. This is to honour the visionary scientist and its legendary founding father Vikram Sarabhai.

• As a part of its celebration, ISRO has planned to telecast a dedicated ISRO TV channel to showcase ISRO’s space applications, developments and science issues. It aims at targeting youngsters and the people in remote areas in their language.

• It has also planned to organise a series of activities nationally and internationally to commemorate the great international scientist. The initial outlay for the planned events costs up to Rs.50 crore.

• Vikram Sarabhai, the architect of the Indian space programme, the first ISRO chief and renowned cosmic ray scientist, was born on August 12, 1919.

h Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

h The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalized space activities in India. It is man-aged by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.

h The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore. Its vision is to “harness space technology for national.

NASA LAUNCHED PARKER SOLAR PROBE TO TOUCH SUN

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched off a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

• Also known as Solar Probe, Named after the Living Scientist Eugene Parker.

• The probe is designed Sun’s mysterious atmosphere known as corona coming within 3.83 million miles (6.16 million kilometres).

• It is the first major mission under Nasa’s Living With a Star program with 1.5 billions.


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INDIA TO LAUNCH FIRST MANNED SPACE MISSION BY 2022

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of his 72nd Independence Day speech for Indian in space by 2022 under manned space mission on board ‘Gaganyaan’.

• This announcement gives Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) definitive timeline for manned space mission it has been working on for the last 15 years.

h If successful, India will become fourth nation in the world to send astronaut into space after US, Russia and China. Former Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Rakesh Sharma was first Indian to travel to space. He was part of the Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 expedition, launched on April 2, 1984, as part of the Intercosmos programme.

SCIENTISTS TO TEST LAND FOR LIGO

h The Environment Ministry has allowed scientists to test the suitability of land in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district to host the India wing of the ambitious Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project.

h This is a key step to establishing the one-of-its-kind astronomical observatory.

h The project involves constructing a network of L-shaped arms, each four kilometers long, which can detect even the faintest ripples from cosmic explosions missions of light years away.

h The discovery of gravitational waves earned three US scientists the Nobel for physics in 2017. The scientists were closely involved with LIGO.

h The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT.

h They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected.

h The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool.

h Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry.


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CHANDRAYAAN-I DATA CONFIRMS PRESENCE OF ICE ON MOON

• Data from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, Scientists have found frozen water deposits in the darkest and coldest parts of the Moon’s polar regions.

• M3, aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was uniquely equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon.

• In the darkest and coldest parts of its polar regions, a team of scientists has directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface.

• These ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. At the southern pole, most of the ice is concentrated at lunar craters, while the northern pole’s ice is more widely, but sparsely spread.

h M3, aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organization, was uniquely equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon. It collected data that not only picked up the reflective properties we’d expect from ice, but was able to directly measure the distinctive way its molecules ab-sorb infrared light, so it can differentiate between liquid water or vapor and solid ice.

EUROPEAN WIND SURVEY SATELLITE AEOLUS LAUNCHED FROM FRENCH GUIANA

• This satellite will be put into orbit at an altitude of 320 kilometers (200 miles) above the Earth which will track global winds, allowing for improved weather forecasting.

• Aeolus is equipped with a single instrument: a Doppler wind lidar — an advanced laser system designed to accurately measure global wind patterns from space.

• Aeolus is the fifth of the ESA’s planned Earth Explorer missions.


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NASA APP LETS YOU CLICK SELFIES WITH GALAXIES• NASA has created two virtual reality apps that allow

users to take selfies in front of gorgeous cosmic locations, and explore the only known exoplanet system to host seven roughly Earth-size planets.

• The Selfies app and Exoplanet Excursions virtual reality app were released to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

• Spitzer’s incredible discoveries and amazing images are at the centre of these new products, the US space agency recited by it.

• The new Selfies app lets you generate snapshots of yourself in a virtual spacesuit, posing in front of gorgeous cosmic locations, like the Orion Nebula or the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

NASA

h President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science.

h The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

h The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

h Since that time, most U.S. space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle.

EYE EXAMINATION MAY HELP DOCTORS TO PREDICT ALZHEIMERS DISEASE

• Researchers recited that advances in eye exam technology could help, in the future, doctors to diagnose people with Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms appear.

• They conducted a study on people who are all in their mid-70s with no outward symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The people underwent PET scans or sampling of spinal fluid. The results came back with half of them have elevated levels of the Alzheimer’s proteins amyloid or tau, suggesting they would eventually develop dementia.

• The researchers also found thinning in the retina, something that experts had previously seen in autopsies of people, who died from Alzheimer’s disease.


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SCIENTISTS CREATE NANO MEDICAL ROBOT AND SETS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

• The scientists have developed the smallest medical robot and set a new Guinness World Record.

• The series of nanorobots was created by SoutikBetal during his doctoral research at University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in the US

• 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 magneto-elastic-electric coupled effect in the nanocomposites acts as arms and legs that move the nanoparticle around to interact with targeted biological cells.

THIRD PATROL VESSEL “VIRA’’ FOR COAST GUARD LAUNCHED

• The third indigenously designed and built offshore patrol vessel (OPV) for the Coast Guard ‘’VIRA’’ was formally launched.

• To be inducted after extensive trials, the OPV will be manned by a 102-member crew and utilised for day and night patrol, surveillance and to provide coastal security, recited by a cost guard .

• The vessel “YARD-45003” equipped with ultra-modern navigation and communication systems is the third in the series of the seven being built by the Larsen and Toubro Shipbuilding under a contract it had signed with the Ministry of Defence in March 2015.


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The first and second vessel were launched in October 2017 and January this year respectively.

1. FIRST PATROL VESSEL

h The Indian Coast Guard commissioned the lead ship of a new class of offshore patrol vessels, ICGS Vikram, in a ceremony at L&T’s Defence shipyard at Kattupalli, near Chennai, on April 11. Vikram is the first of seven vessels in the class designed and built by Larsen and Toubro under a contract from March 2015.

2. SECOND PATROL VESSEL

h The second offshore patrol vessel (OPV) built by the Larsen and Toubro Shipyard for the Indian Coast Guard was launched.

h According to a Rs 1,432 crore contract signed with the Defence Ministry, the L&T Shipyard at Kattupalli, about 45 km from here, would indigenously design and build seven OPVs.

INDIA’S FIRST MANNED SPACE MISSION TO SEND 3 PERSONS

• India’s first manned space flight - Gaganyaan - is expected to send three persons, including a woman, into the space for seven days and the spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.

• Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.

• As per ISRO schedule, the first and second unmanned flights would be sent in orbit within 30 and 36 months beginning from August 2018 respectively, while the third and the first human spacecraft would be placed in orbit within 40 months -- end of December 2021 or January 2022.


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‘IHUB’ (THE INTELLIGENT HUB) FOR RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC LEARNING

• The Andhra Pradesh government will set up ‘iHub’ (the intelligent hub), a first-of-its kind global research centre for scientific learning with an initial investment of Rs 245 crore spread over five years.

• For this purpose, the state government has already collaborated with UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

• Some of the social and economic objectives of iHub will be to create 50,000 future-ready skilled manpower, reduced school dropouts and capture the EdTech market.

• The initial staff will be about 40 International researchers in disciplines such as neuro-science, education, psychology, digital instructional design, educational technology, AI, data sciences, and gamingamong others.

THE FIRST INDIGENOUS MICROPROCESSORS ‘RISECREEK’

• The group of computer scientists and a team of students from the IIT- Madras have developed the first of a family of six industry-standard microprocessors under Project Shakti.

• The initial batch of 300 chips, named ‘RISECREEK’, has been fabricated for free at the Intel facility in Oregon (US), which was used to run the Linux operating system. The design of microprocessors is open source.

• The team had used a BlueSpec System Verilog language, which helped them capture the processor functionality.


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LATEST DISCOVERIES IN HEALTH SCIENCE

NBRC RESEARCHERS DECIPHER ABOUT ZIKA VIRUS CAUSES MICROCEPHALY

• National Brain Research Centre-led team of researchers has successfully identified the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which Zika virus causes microcephaly.

• Babies born with microcephaly have significantly smaller head size compared with normal babies.

• The researchers found the envelop protein (E protein) of the virus, which is responsible for the entry of the virus into brain stem cells, was responsible for arresting the proliferation of human foetal neural stem cells and also killing the cells that were becoming neuron-like. The combined effect reduces the pool of foetal brain cells leading to smaller size of the brain.

INDIA BANS RABIES VACCINES MADE BY CHINA FIRM • India has ordered an immediate recall of rabies vaccines made by

a scandal hit Chinese Company ,complaining it only found out about possible problems through media reports. Drug Controller General of India S.Eswara Reddy recited that it has also put a temporary stop on fresh imports of the vaccine made by Changchun Changsheng after it emerged that it had fabricated records.


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BAN OF OXYTOCIN LIKELY TO BE LIFTED

• Government had banned oxytocin. The move came into effect from July 1, 2018.

• It is intended to curb the hormone injection’s misuse in cattle but the impact is being felt by pregnant women, who require the medication the most.

Reasons to ban

• The ban is primarily motivated by the misuse of the hormone in the dairy industry.

• Oxytocin stimulates lactation in cattle.

• Dairy farmers thus inject the drug indiscriminately to increase milk production.

• This has increased the unlicensed facilities that are manufacturing the drug for veterinary use.

• There is also a concern that oxytocin led to infertility in dairy animals.

• It has also been linked to mastitis, a painful inflammation of the udder (mammary gland).

h Oxytocin is hormone normally produced by the posterior pituitary.

h It plays a role in social bonding, sexual reproduction in both sexes, and during and after childbirth.

h Oxytocin is released into the bloodstream as a hormone in response to stretching of the cervix and uterus during labour and with stimulation of the nipples from breastfeeding.

h This helps with birth, bonding with the baby, and milk production.

h Oxytocin was discovered by Henry Dale in 1906.

h Its molecular structure was determined in 1952.

h Oxytocin is also used as a medication to facilitate childbirth.


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CHINESE RESEARCHERS CREATE WORLDS FIRST SINGLE-CHROMOSOME YEAST

• Researchers from China have claimed to have created the world’s first single-chromosome yeast while not affecting the majority of its functions.

• The researchers involved in the creation are molecular biologists from the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences in China.

• The research was published on the website of the journal – Nature on August 2, 2018.

IISER BHOPAL STRIKE AT THE ROOT OF HEAD AND NECK CANCER GROWTH

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have found that depleting the production of a specific protein kinase (p21-activated kinase 2 or PAK2), which is normally produced in excess in head and neck cancer, affects a chain of events that finally reduces the growth of head and neck cancer.

• In cancer cells, the PAK2 protein is responsible for increased cell proliferation, cell migration, invasion into the extracellular matrix, colony formation and even resistance to certain cancer drugs.

MCR-1 GENE SEEN IN K. PNEUMONIAE BACTERIA• Increased prevalence of mcr-1 gene that confers multidrug-resistance has now been

reported in Klebsiellapneumoniae bacteria, increasing the fear of infection by pan drug-resistant bugs. This gene endows resistance against last hope antibiotic — colistin.

• A total of 200 K. pneumoniae isolates from pus, blood, sputum, and urine were studied. Of this, 21 were resistant to colistin, and further screening revealed that four harboured mcr-1 gene.


August -2018



AN INVASIVE AGRICULTURE PEST FALL ARMYWORM IS FOUND IN KARNATAKA

• The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) discovered an invasive agricultural pest Fall Armyworm (Spodopterafrugiperda) in Karnataka. Shivamogga’s University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences Entomologists C.M.KalleshwaraSwamy and Sharanabasappa suspected the unusual happening in maize crops in Shivamogga this year.

• A major maize pest in North America, the Fall Armyworm arrived in Africa in 2016. It has threatened the continent’s maize crop, a staple which feeds 300 million people.

• The pest feeds on around 100 different crops, such as vegetables, rice, and sugarcane and it spreads in no time. The Karnataka finding is the first report of the pest in Asia.

h The worm that was first noticed in the neighbouring Karnataka State later spread to Tamil Nadu, which has now entered the Telangana State.

h The first incidence of Fall Armyworm infestation was noticed in Siddipet district here where it attacked maize and paddy crops to an extent, which has now spread to Chigurumamidi and Ramagudumandals in Karimnagar district.

SCIENTISTS FOUND A NEW COMPOUND WHICH MIGHT REVERSE HUMAN CELL AGEING

• Scientists have developed a new compound which is believed to reverse ageing in human cells. This might lead to the basis for a new generation anti-degenerative drugs.

• Compounds namely AP39, AP123 and RT01 were designed in a way that they can selectively deliver minute quantities of the gas hydrogen sulphide to the mitochondria, the power stations, in cells.

• By delivering so, it helps the old or damaged cells to generate the energy needed for survival and to reduce senescence.

• These compounds produced a 40-50% drop in the number of senescent blood vessel cells.


August -2018



RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT ASPIRIN MAY HELP TO PREVENT AIDS

• Researchers have found that Aspirin which is an affordable and globally available drug could help prevent HIV transmission.

• They tested the effect of acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs on HIV target cells.

• It showed that Aspirin was the most effective as it reduced the number of HIV target cells.

• Researches are being done whether Aspirin can reduce the level of target cells will actually prevent HIV infections.

• If the research turns out as expected then it could be a strategy for HIV prevention which is not only inexpensive but easily accessed globally.

SCIENTISTS UNVEILED UNKNOWN SPECIES OF 200-MILLION-YEAR OLD PTEROSAUR

• Scientists unveiled a previously unknown species of giant pterosaur,the first creatures with a backbone to fly under their own power .

• The species had a wing –span of 1.5 metres and 112th teeth, including fang–like spikes sticking out near the snout


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• Neither dinosaur nor bird, pterosaurs -- more commonly known as pterodactyls -- emerged during the late Triassic period more than 200 million years ago and lorded over primeval skies until a massive space rock slammed into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and most other forms of life some 65 million years ago.

CORAL REEFS COULD SURVIVE GLOBAL WARMING

• Coral Reefs with algae has endured climate change events in the past since the age of Dinosaurs, about 160 million years ago.

• There may be hope for marine reefs to survive modern day global warming, recite scientists who have found that Coral –Algal partnerships have endured numerous climate change events since the age of Dinosaurs.

• These Symbiotic relationships at 50 to 65 million years ago, recited by Todd Lajeunesse, an Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University in the U.S.CORAL REEF DISCOVERER

h English explorer and naval officer Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef on this day in 1770 the hard way -- by running aground on it.

h A Coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals.

MICROSOFT AND APOLLO HOSPITALS BUILDS AI TO PREDICT CVD RISK

• Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals together have built an Artificial Intelligence powered CardioVascular Disease (CVD) risk score Application Program Interface (API). The API is built on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform Azure. It is the first of its kind in India. It has been designed to predict the risk of CVD in the Indian population. The aim is to prevent heart disease, save lives.

• It is expected that AI can augment human ingenuity. It would also enable doctors across the Apollo network of hospitals to drive preventive cardiac care across the country.


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• The collaboration is because Microsoft needed to partner (Apollo hospitals) with a firm that can provide key ingredients such as relevant data and the right level of domain expertise in cardiology to build the technology.

h Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels.

h Cardiovascular disease includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack).

h Other CVDs include stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, heart arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, carditis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, thromboembolic disease, and venous thrombosis.

ANTIDEPRESSANTS MAY COUNTER EFFECTS OF BRAIN AGEING

• A commonly used antidepressant medication Prozac can counter some of the effects of brain ageing, such as sensory and cognitive decline, an MIT.

• The research published in the Journal of Neuroscience provides fresh evidence that the decline in the capacity of brain cells to change - called ‘plasticity’ - rather than a decline in a total cell number, may underlie some of the sensory and cognitive declines associated with normal brain ageing.

• Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US showed that they could restore a significant degree of lost plasticity to the cells by treating mice with the commonly used antidepressant medication fluoxetine, also known as Prozac.

THIS ANCIENT BONE BELONGED TO A CHILD OF TWO EXTINCT HUMAN SPECIES

• The woman may have been just a teenager when she died more than 50,000 years ago, too young to have left much of a mark on her world. But a piece of one of her bones, unearthed in a cave in Russia’s Denisova valley in 2012, may make her famous.


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• Enough ancient DNA lingered within the 2-centimeter fragment to reveal her startling ancestry: She was the direct offspring of two different species of ancient humans—neither of them ours.

• An analysis of the woman’s genome, reported in this week’s issue of Nature, indicates her mother was Neanderthal and her father was Denisovan, the mysterious group of ancient humans discovered in the same Siberian cave in 2011.

• It is the most direct evidence yet that various ancient humans mated with each other and had offspring.

FINAL CONFORMATION ABOUT THIS RESEARCH

• Based on other ancient genomes, researchers already had concluded that Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans interbred in ice age Europe and Asia. The genes of both archaic human species are present in many people.

• Direct offspring of the two ancient humans was found among the first few fossil genomes recovered from the cave suggests and recites, “that when these groups met, they actually mixed quite freely with each other.” Recited by Viviane Slon, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who did the ancient DNA analysis

GENETIC CODE OF WHICH CULTIVATED CROP FOR THE FIRST TIME

• For the first time, the International team of scientists including 18 from India cracked the genetic code of wheat, the world’s most widely cultivated crop.

• The information generated will help to identify genes controlling complex agronomic traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases and pests, as well as tolerance to drought, heat, water logging and salinity.

• The research, which is published in Journal ‘Science’, stated that the DNA sequence of bread wheat has been ordered and it represents the highest quality genome sequence generated to date.

• The reference genome covers 94% (14.5 Gb) of the entire wheat genome.


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MASS MEDIA & COMMUNICATION

CJI LAUNCHES MOBILE APPS FOR E- FILING OF CASES

• Giant Leap app towards a court system of Litigant -friendly.

• Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra heralded the launch of a host of smartphone apps to help litigants, including convicts from all parts of the country file cases and even make e- payments to courts.

PRANAB MUKHERJEE, ARVIND KEJRIWAL LAUNCHED NETA APP

• Former President Pranab Mukherjee as a“milestone” in making Indian democracy “more participative”, an app called ‘Neta’ was launched , to allow voters to rate and review their political representatives. Speaking at the launch of the app, developed by 27-year-old entrepreneur Pratham Mittal, Mukherjee recited a, “A good democracy cannot work without informed voters, good leaders and complete transparency and accountability.”

• According to the app’s developers, “Neta app aims to create a deep impact on the political engagement in the country.

• Apart from the obvious ability to let people rate their MLAs and MPs, the app serves as a useful barometer to gauge voter sentiment at any given point of time, across each constituency.

• Neta also provides new leaders with an opportunity to showcase their popularity and catch the attention of political parties.


August -2018



GOOGLE LAUNCHES ‘NAVLEKHA’ FOR INDIAN LANGUAGE PUBLISHERS

• At the fourth ‘Google for India’ event, Google has unveiled Project Navlekhā to help Indian language publishers take their content online.

• Navlekhā 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.

E-AKSHARAYAN, DESKTOP SOFTWARE LAUNCHED BY IT MINISTRY

• The IT ministry launched a desktop software e-Aksharayan in a conference for Indian Languages Technology Industry ‘Bhashantara’, in New Delhi. The objective is to enable editing and printing of text in scanned documents.

• The software e-Aksharayan was launched in 7 Indian languages. They are namely: Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Kannada& Assamese.


August -2018



FORMER SPEAKER SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR CORRUPTION

• Parliament passed Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2018 on July 24 to enhance transparency and accountability of the government but some of the provisions of the bill are drawing criticism on social media.

• They had changed since after the amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988.

PROVISIONS OF THE ANTI-CORRUPTION BILL

The provisions can be divided into 5 categories: Bribery (undue advantage defined as gratification other than legal

remuneration)

• Earlier, there were no specific provisions except as abetment but under the amendment giving a bribe is now an offence, punishable by a 7-year prison term except when one is forced to give a bribe. However, it should be reported within 7 days.

Criminal misconduct

• Earlier, criminal misconduct used to cover offences including taking bribe habitually, getting anything free or at a concession, obtaining pecuniary.

NATIONAL-DAIRY OF EVENTS


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STARTUP INDIA YATRA LAUNCHED IN CHHATTISGARH

• The Startup India Yatra launched in Raipur, the capital city of Chattisgarh.

• Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India.

Aim:- To promote job creation in tier 2 and tier 3 towns and cities.

Startup India is an initiative of the Government of India

The campaign was first announced by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi during his 15 August 2015 address from the Red Fort, in New Delhi.

The action plan of this initiative, is based on the following three pillars:

h Simplification and Handholding.

h Funding Support and Incentives.

h Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.

INDIA’S FIRST RAPID RAIL PROJECT ON TRACK

• Uttar Pradesh will soon become country’s first state to get Rapid Rail in the first phase of implementation of RRTS. The ambitious rapid rail project will connect Delhi and Meerut in the first corridor.

STA-1: INDIA BECOMES FIRST SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRY TO GET ACCESS TO

US CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

• United States has designated India as Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA-1) country that will allow country to buy highly advanced and cutting-edge sensitive technologies from America. This coveted status brings India in par with US’s closest allies and partners such as NATO.

• STA-1 designation authorizes export, re-export and transfer (in-country) of specified items on Commerce Control List to destinations posing a low risk of unauthorised or impermissible uses. Currently there are 36 countries on STA-1 list. India is only South Asian Country to be on the list. Other Asian countries designated as STA-1 are Japan and South Korea.


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• Under STA-1, India and US have reached understanding under which India will receive license-free access to wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that India has committed to take to advance its export control objectives. STA-1 treatment will expand scope of technology exports subject to Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that can be made to India without individual licenses. It will further enhance bilateral defence trade relationship and result in a greater volume of US exports to India.

RAJASTHAN IS THE FIRST STATE TO IMPLEMENT BIOFUEL POLICY

• Rajasthan become the first State in the country to implement the national policy on biofuels unveiled by the Central government.

• This policy on biofuels seeks to help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an economic manner and reduce the country’s oil import dependence, National Biofuel Policy 2018.

h A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter.

CENTRE PUSHES FOR QUOTA IN PROMOTION FOR SC/ST

• The government objected to a creamy layer concept among the SC/ST.

• Government wanted a total of 22.5% (15% for SC+7.5% for ST) posts reserved for promotion for SC/ST in public employment.

• Most States did not prepare quantifiable data to show inadequacy/adequacy of representation.

• On this, Attorney General K.K Venugopal said data keeps fluctuating and it is not static and filling up vacancies was a dynamic and continuous process.

• The government wants refer the 2006 verdict to a larger bench for a re-examination because:

• It had argued that the 2006 verdict had created an “impossible situation” for providing accelerated promotions with consequential seniority for SC/ST communities in government services.


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• Article 16(4):- Which deals with the States power for providing for appointments or posts for “any backwards class of citizens”.

• Article 16(4A):- Which arms the state with power to make provisions for quota in promotion with consequential seniority to SC/ST communities.

• Article 16(4B):- which deals with unfilled vacancies of a year reserved for SC/ST kept from being filled up.

MANDAL COMMISSION CASE (OR) INDIRA SAWHNEY CASE, 1992

• The Mandal Commission, or the Socially Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India on 1 January 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India.It was headed by the late B.P. Mandal an Indian parliamentarian, to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness.

• In 1980, based on its rationale that OBCs (“Other backward classes”) identified on the basis of caste, economic and social indicators comprised 52% of India’s population, the Commission’s report recommended that members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) be granted reservations to 27 per cent of jobs under the Central government and public sector undertakings, thus making the total number of reservations for SC, ST and OBC to 49%.

INDIA ELECTED PRESIDENT OF ASIA-PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR

BROADCASTING DEVELOPMENT• India got elected against Iran during voting which took place at the 44th annual gathering

of Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) in Colombo.

• The period of India as President is two years.

h The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations.

h It currently has over 280 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 billion people.

h The ABU’s role is to help the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region and to promote the collective interests of its members.

h The ABU covers an area stretching from Turkey in the west to Samoa in the east, and from Mongolia in the north to New Zealand in the south.

h Its secretariat is located in Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, its secretary-general, currently Dr JavadMottaghi.


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KERALA GOVERNMENT MADE E-WAY BILL MANDATORY

• Kerala government has made e-way bill mandatory for inter-State goods movements as it concerns at the loss of revenue over Rs. 400 crore.

• To implement it, the government has planned to set up 190 inspection squads, now many states have made e-way bill mandatory.

• The collection of tax has increased the revenue income to Rs. 4,661 crore being collected in June as against the Rs. 2,760 crore in May. It registered a 52% growth rate over in the State.

SHAURNAHIN MOBILE APP• Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched ‘horn not ok’ awareness

campaign and ‘ShaurNahin’ (no noise) mobile application.

• The main aim is to spread awareness of unnecessary blowing horn as it creates unnecessary noise pollution.

• The app will enable the general public to report cases of noise pollution. It has settings for two types of users general public and officers both of whom have a one-time password (OTP).

GAUTAM ADANI GROUP WON THE GAS DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AUCTIONS

• Gautam Adani’s group won the gas distribution network auctions. It gained rights to sell Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in 11 cities, including Allahabad.

• In the country’s biggest City Gas Distribution (CGD) Adani won 6 cities on its own and another 5 in joint ventures with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

• IOC won 4 cities on its own. Bharat Gas Resources Ltd. won the license for 6 cities. Torrent Gas Pvt. Ltd. won 6 cities. GAIL Gas won 3 cities.

h Gautam Shantilal Adani (born 24 June 1962) is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur and industrialist who is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, an Ahmedabad-based multinational conglomerate that is the largest port developer and operator in India.

h Adani is the president of the Adani Foundation, which is primarily led by his wife, PritiAdani.

h He founded the Adani Group in 1988 and diversified his business into resources, logistics, energy, agriculture, defence and aerospace, amongst others.


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MINISTER PRAKASH JAVADEKAR INAUGURATED THE TRANSIT CAMPUS

CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ANDHRA PRADESH• Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar inaugurated the

transit campus of the Central University of Andhra Pradesh at the IT Business Incubation Centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU).

• Andhra Pradesh State government allotted 491.30 acres for the transit campus. The Centre has also provided hundreds of crores to seven institutions in AP.

STARTUP INDIA LAUNCHES ACADEMIA ALLIANCE PROGRAMME

• Startup India is a unique mentorship opportunity between academic scholars and startups to fulfill the Indian Government’s mission and to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country.

• The main aim is to build bridge between the academia and industry to implement the third pillar on which the Startup India Action Plan is based - Industry-Academia Partnerships and Incubation.

h The Startup Academia Alliance aims to reduce the gap between scientific research and its industrial applications in order to increase the efficacy of these technologies and to widen their impact.

h By creating a bridge between academia and industry, the Alliance strives to create lasting connections between the stakeholders of the startup ecosystem and implement the third pillar on which the Startup India Action Plan is based - Industry Academia Partnerships and Incubation.

THREE NORTHERN STATES EMERGE AS NEW HIV HOTSPOTS

• Health Ministry attributes rise of incidence in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura to injecting drug users and unsafe sexual practices.

• The good news is that there has been a steady decline in the number of HIV cases in India.


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• The bad news is that Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura have emerged as the new hotspots for HIV, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

• Number of people living with HIV in India -21 lakhs (2.1 million).

Year No. of HIV Patients Diagnosed

2015-2016 2,00465

2016-2017 1,93,195

2017-2018 1,90,763

Persons living with HIV who are on Anti- Retroviral Treatment as of June 2018: 12,28,730.

State No. of People’s Affected by HIV

Maharastra 2,03,833

Andhra Pradesh 1,78,996

Karanataka 1,58,588

Tamil Nadu 114,298

Telangana 73,628

WORLD’S FIRST THERMAL BATTERY PLANT TO BE INAUGURATED IN ANDHRA PRADESH

• The world’s first-ever thermal battery plant will be unveiled in Andhra Pradesh by the state’s Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on August 6, 2018.

• Manufactured by the Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private Limited (BEST), the first-of-its-kind batteries will aim to boost renewable sources of energy production and reduce the dependence on non-renewable fossil fuel-based energy generation.

Objective

h The technology, which will help in mitigating carbon emissions, is best suited for grid balancing and stabilisations.

h It will also be used to store energy for telecommunication, commercial establishments, electric vehicles and highway charging stations.

h It can also be effectively used in remote locations, such as hilly terrains and islands.


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WORLD’S LARGEST BIRD SCULPTURE JATAYU SCULPTURE WILL BE INAUGURATED IN KERALA

• The Jatayu sculpture at the Jatayu Earth Center (JEC) at Chadayamangalam in Kollam district, Kerala, said to be world’s largest bird sculpture, will be inaugurated on August 17 by Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan.

• This Rs 100 crore-project is a creation by film director and sculptor Rajiv Anchal.

GOA BECOMES FIRST STATE BY STARTING ITS OWN APP BASED TAXI SERVICE

• Goa CM Manohar Parrikarand Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar flagged off the Goa T o u r i s m Development Corporation’s app-based taxi service called “GoaMiles”.

• A taxi owner did not have to pay anything and GTDC’s charges would be recovered from the consumer. GTDC will charge the consumer around Rs 20-80 as service fee.

• Customers will get honest service and will get to know the fare before the journey starts.

• There is a panic-cumemergency button available on the app.

MAHARASHTRA GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES SPECIAL ASSISTANCE OF RS 500 CRORE FOR OBC COMMUNITY

• The state government of Maharashtra has announced a special assistance worth Rs 500 crore for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community in the state.

• With the move, the state government reaffirmed its commitment to retaining OBC quotas in jobs and rejected reports that Maratha community may be included in the OBC category for reservation purpose.

• The announcement was made by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while addressing the 3rd National Convention of National OBC Association in Mumbai.


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h The people belonging to the OBC community constitute 52 percent of Maharashtra’s population.

h However, when it comes to reservation, currently the OBC community enjoys 17 percent reservation in the state.

h On the other hand, the politically dominant Maratha community, which constitutes 30 percent of the state’s population, has been demanding 16 percent reservation in jobs and educational institutes.

NSE UNVEILED NEW LOGO AT ITS SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION

• The National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest equity bourse, has celebrated its silver jubilee by unveiling its new logo, which is a modern representation of a blooming marigold with red, yellow, orange, and blue hues.

• The celebrations were attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, NITI Aayog deputy chairman Rajiv Kumar, and Delhi lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal.

• The NSE was inaugurated by Singh in 1994 when he was finance minister.

AHEAD OF ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, THREE RAJASTHAN VILLAGES GET ‘HINDU’ NAMES

• Three seemingly ‘Islamic-sounding’ villages will now have ‘Hindu’ names as the Rajasthan government has notified their renaming after the proposal was cleared by the Union Home Ministry a few days ago.

• Ismailpur village in Jhunjhunu district will now be known as Pichanwa Khurd while Miyon ka Bara in Barmer district has been rechristened as Mahesh Nagar.

• In Jalore district, a village known as Narpara until now will henceforth be called Narpura.

• The government has offered two reasons to justify the move behind renaming Miyon ka Bara (house of Muslims) — one, it was called so despite having only four Muslim families (in a population of around 2,000); and secondly, the residents had been complaining that the youths were not receiving marriage proposals because of the misleading name, which gave an impression that it was a Muslim-dominated village.


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KARNATAKA STATE OPEN UNIVERSITY GETS UGC RECOGNITION

• The Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) has been granted recognition by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the year 2018-2019.

• It has been granted permission to run courses for the 2018-19 to 2022-23 academic years.

• KSOU has not been granted UGC recognition till 2013-2014. This has caused a huge injustice to lakhs of students of the University.

• On 4th June, a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting was held in Mysuru. University. Vice-Chancellor Prof.D. Shivalingaiah demonstrated requesting the recognition for the university.

• After listening to the requests the committee members directed the UGC and Joint Secretary of the Human Resource Department to give recognition to the KSOU.

h The University Grants Commission of India (UGC India) is a statutory body set up by the Indian Union government in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education.

h It provides recognition to universities in India, and disburses funds to such recognised universities and colleges.

h Its headquarters is in New Delhi, and six regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore.

DELHI TO GET 15 NEW LANGUAGE ACADEMIES• The Delhi government has decided to set up academies of 15 languages, including foreign ones,

to promote art and culture. The proposal was approved by the Delhi cabinet on Tuesday.

• The government said the new academies would be set up in lines with the existing ones for Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi and Maithili-Bhojpuri. Apart from senior officers, each academy would have language experts, artists, litterateurs and translators on board.

• Announcing the decision in the House, deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Said, ‘The city is home to a large number of people who speak different languages and bring the culture of their states here.’ The government therefore, has decided to establish the academies of Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, Pali and Prakriti, KumaoniGarhwali and Jaunsari, Marwari, Kashmiri, Assamese, Haryanvi, Oriya, Kannada and Telugu. It would also establish a separate academy for international languages.


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‘INDIA TO TRIPLE ETHANOL PRODUCTION BY 2022’

• India will triple its ethanol production over the next four years till 2022 and this will save`12,000 crore in the country’s oil import bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recited , which is being celebrated as World Biofuels Day.

• The Prime Minister also blamed the previous government for not encouraging the production and adoption of ethanol, reciting his government has planned 12 biofuel refineries in the country at an investment of `10,000 crore.

• “The ethanol blending programme was started during the Vajpayee government,” Mr. Modi said. “But previous governments did not take the ethanol programme seriously.

• Now we will produce 450 crore litres of ethanol in the next four years from the existing 141 crore litres. This will result in an import savings of `12,000 crore.” The government will achieve 10% ethanol blending in petrol by 2022 and is aiming to double it to 20%,”.

PUNE TOPS EASE OF LIVING INDEX 2018, DELHI RANKS 65

• Pune has emerged as the easiest city to live in India according to the Ease of Living Index 2018 released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

• None of the 12 cities from Tamil Nadu made it to top 10 of the Centre’s first –ever Ease of Living Index report.

• Chennai was ranked number 2 among the cities having a population of over 4 million.


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• Tiruchi topped in the heath parameter, while Erode was number one in terms of access to water supply.

• It was decided in June 2017 to rank cities based on the liveability parameters. The implementation of the assessment commenced formally on Jan 19, 2018 converting 111 cities.

• Top 10 cities mentioned in the Ease of Living Index.

h Pune

h Navi Mumbai

h Greater Mumbai

h Tirupati

h Chandigarh

h Thane

h Raipur

h Indore

h Vijaywada

h Bhopal

HOW ARE THESE CITIES RANKED?

• The easiest cities to live in are measured on a 100-point scale across 78 indicators on the following factors:

h Institutions and governance

h Social infrastructure (education/health)

h Economic factors

h Physical infrastructure

ABOUT THE EASE OF LIVING INDEX

h The survey is a first-of-its-kind inaugural one started this year by the govt.

h It surveyed a total of 111 cities of the country, out of which two other cities of Maharashtra -- Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai were ranked as the most liveable cities of India.


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INDIAS FIRST GENETIC BANK FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION INAUGURATED IN HYDERABAD

• It is India’s first genetic resource bank where the genetic material will be stored for posterity which will further the cause of conservation of endangered species.

• It is equipped with sophisticated equipment to preserve the genetic resources that could be utilized to virtually resurrect an animal species.

• Laboratory of Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) developed a universal DNA based marker for identification of wild animals from parts and remains.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN LAUNCHED BY

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA• The campaign ‘Our Safety, Our Rights’ seeks to empower children to speak up and report

sexual abuse without fear.

• The children will engage in 400 schools, across four Indian states, and through this campaign, an estimated 50,000 students, parents, teachers, and other key stakeholders will be sensitized on the issue of child sexual abuse.

• The campaign will be taken up by schools in Amnesty International India’s Human Rights Education network in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and will engage with teachers, parents, communities, institutions and state authorities.

h Amnesty International India is a country unit of the Amnesty International network, and is part of a global movement promoting and defending human rights and dignity.

h Amnesty International is an organization of more than 7 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries which is independent of government, corporate or national interests.

h Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. Its vision is one of a world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.


August -2018



CENTRE SAYS KERALA FLOODS ‘CALAMITY OF SEVERE NATURE’

• The Centre has recited that the Kerala floods were a “calamity of severe nature for all practical purposes”, keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods and landslides.

• Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju recited the Kerala floods were being treated as natural calamity of severe nature but there was nothing to declare it as one.

• “When the situation becomes unprecedented and extremely difficult to handle in a normal rescue and relief operation as natural calamity of severe nature.

CHHATTISGARH’S UPCOMING CAPITAL TO BE NAMED AFTER ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE

• The upcoming capital of Chhattisgarh, Naya Raipur, will be known as Atal Nagar as a mark of respect to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away last week at the age of 93.

• “On the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a resolution was passed in the state cabinet to rename some places after him,” Chief Minister Raman Singh said. Naya Raipur will be renamed as Atal Nagar.

• “A statue of Atal Bihari Vajpayee will also be installed at Naya Raipur and all 27 district headquarters of the state, besides a central park will be developed in the upcoming capital in the name of former prime minister”.

SACRILEGE OF ALL RELIGIOUS TEXTS TO BE PUNISHABLE WITH LIFE

IMPRISONMENT IN PUNJAB• Sacrilege of all religious texts to be punishable with life imprisonment in Punjab.

• Approves various other bills to be tabled in the ensuing session of Vidhan Sabha.

• Chandigarh, August 21, 2018 :


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• The Punjab Cabinet has approved amendments to CrPC and IPC to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment, thus taking a major step towards curbing such incidents and maintaining communal harmony in the state.

• The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, here.

• The Cabinet also approved a series of other Bills to be tabled before the Assembly in the forthcoming session.

KEMPEGOWDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AMONG FASTEST

GROWING AIRPORTS IN WORLD

• Routes Online has found that the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is the second fastest growing airport in the world.

• BIAL said that the study by Routes Online is in sync with the data that points to India being among the fastest-growing aviation markets.

• To keep pace with this growth, the Airport is on the cusp of tremendous infrastructure development that will include a new terminal and a second runway.

• “The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport), is proud to be in second place among the top 20 fastest-growing major airports in the world.

S. NO. CITIES1. Tokyo (Haneda Airport)2. Bengaluru (Kempegowda Airport)3. Jakarta4. Chicago5. Madrid6. Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport)7. Dallas Fort Worth8. Los Angeles9. Frankfurt10. Nanchang


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UTTAR PRADESH MADRASA LOSES RECOGNITION OVER NATIONAL ANTHEM ROW

• On the occasion of Independence Day, taking seriously the alleged objection of a professor and some teachers to sing a national anthem in a madrasa, the Uttar Pradesh government has abolished the validity of the madarsa.

• Almost a week after a video purportedly showed the principal and teachers of a madrasa in Uttar Pradesh stopping students from singing the national anthem during the Independence Day function, the state government has cancelled its recognition.

• The recognition of Madrasa Arabia Ahle Girls College in Badago has been cancelled after an order from the state education department.

REASON:

• The principal of the madrasa Fazlal Rahman and some teachers had reportedly stopped the students from singing the national anthem on Independence Day after unfurling of the national flag.

ODISHA WILL BE THE HUB OF EAST WITH PORT-LED MANUFACTURING

• Odisha aims to leverage its ports as part of a push to develop the State as a manufacturing hub in eastern India that could serve the larger South Asian regional market.

• The State’s focus is on ensuring state-of-the-art infrastructure and progressive policies to provide a conducive environment for industrial development.

• The units inaugurated included a caustic soda facility set up by Grasim Industries at a cost of ̀ 110 crore in Ganjam District and Jyoti Solar Solutions solar power plant in Bolangir District.

TRAINS TO GET SWACHH BHARAT LOGO, FLAG TO CELEBRATE 150TH GANDHI JAYANTI

• All coaches of the Indian Railways will now display the logo of the government’s pet project Swachch Bharat and the national flag as part of the national transporter’s plans to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

• The Railway Board has recited that the ‘Swachhta Pakhwara’ from September 15-October 2, would mark the beginning of the railways’ plans to commemorate Gandhiji’s birth anniversary.


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• It has identified 43 stations with special association with Mahatma Gandhi which will be painted thematically while 28 other near iconic places would undergo massive cleanliness drives.

• Among the 43 stations are Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Surat, Danapur, Asansol, Bengaluru, Vadosara and among the iconic stations are Puri, Amritsar, Haridwar, Kurukshetra.

• The board has also picked up themes for the next six months starting October 2018 - sanitation, non-violence, voluntary community service, communal unity, removal of untouchability, and women empowerment.

UNION GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTES NEW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COUNCIL TO ADVISE PRIME MINISTER

• The council will be headed by K Vijay Raghavan, the principal scientific adviser to the Union Government.

• The council has been named as Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Committee (PM-STIAC).

THIRD EDITION OF WORLD’S BIGGEST OPEN INNOVATION MODEL SMART

INDIA HACKATHON 2019 LAUNCHED• It is a nationwide initiative to provide

students a platform to solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.

• For the first time, Private industry/organizations and NGOs can also send their problem statements to students under SIH-2019.

About AICTE

h All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

h Member Secretary: Alok Prakash Mittal


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‘MARKETER OF THE YEAR’ AWARD BY THE INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING

ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (IAAI)• Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF),

the marketers of the popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products, was awarded the ‘Marketer of the Year’ award by the International Advertising Association of India (IAAI).

• The award was received by RS Sodhi, the Managing Director (MD) of GCMMF, on behalf of the 36 lakh milk farmers and producers of Gujarat. Amul is the brand worth Rs 41,000 crore and is the biggest cooperative owned by 36 lakh farmers of Gujarat.

• Amul is not only known for its cooperative structure and farmer’s faith, but is also known for its marketing and advertizing strategies.

“FREEDOM STRUGGLE & FREEDOM FIGHTERS” HAS BEEN ORGANIZED BY FILMS DIVISION OF INDIA (FDI)

• On the occasion of 72nd Independence Day 2018, the special film festival on the theme “Freedom Struggle and Freedom Fighters” has started in Mumbai on August 14.

• The festival was organized by Films Division of India (FDI), a film production house belonging to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

• It was inaugurated by Rama Khandwala, nonagenarian freedom fighter and Indian National Army (INA) veteran.

‘TATKAL SEWA’ FOR PROPERTY REGISTRATION• The Punjab Government will start ‘Tatkal Sewa’ for property registration across the state

from 13th August 2018. The state government has fixed the sum of Rs 5,000 as facilitation charges to seek appointment for ‘tatkal’ (instant) registration for properties.

• People could seek an appointment by visiting the website “www.revenue.punjab.gov.in”. So far, over 1.62 lakh online documents have been registered under the new system.


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REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP (RCEP)

• The Union government has constituted a 4-member Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, to look into issues related to the proposed mega free trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

• The GoM will deliberate upon the issues being raised by the industry as well as government departments.

“MONTH OF NUTRITION” AWARENESS• The Rajasthan government has decided to observe September as the “month of nutrition”

to create awareness among people living in the state.

• From September, the students of Class 1 to 8 of government schools will be given milk daily instead of thrice a week for which additional funds of Rs 203 crore will be allocated.

• It must be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Nutrition Mission (NNM) and Pan India Expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) at a mega event held at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan on the occasion 2018 International Women’s Day (IWD).


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TECH MAHINDRA TO ESTABLISH INDIA’S FIRST BLOCKCHAIN DISTRICT

• The Telangana government has signed pact with Tech Mahindra to establish the Blockchain district in Hyderabad, a first-of-its-kind Centre of Excellence for Blockchain.

• The MoU was signed during the 3-day International congress at HICC in Hyderabad. Initially it would be a virtual cluster, connecting with the stakeholders working in the emerging technology.

• Eleven01 Foundation will develop an India-specific protocol that will define the standards for usage of Blockchain.

• Besides, the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) will make part of its protocol development research to the virtual cluster of Blockchain district.

THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA (ECI) HAS CONDUCTED THE FIRST-

EVER ORIENTATION WORKSHOP• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has conducted the first-ever Orientation Workshop

on Election Management for IAS Asstt Secretaries in New Delhi on August 3, 2018.


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• The aim of the workshop is to familiarize the Assistant Secretaries with all facets of Electoral Management before they are required to handle crucial assignments in conducting Elections.

• Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat advised the officers to be prepared for facing the newer challenges.

10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON ORAL IMPLANTOLOGY

• On August 3, the 10th International conference on Oral Implantology was held in New Delhi to enhance the awareness and knowledge on the latest innovations and technologies in oral implantology world over.

• The 3-days conference hosted by Academy of Oral Implantology (AOI) has representations by doctors from the UK, the US, Israel, Austria, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Spain. The vision is to promote latest technologies and encourage younger doctors, in the field of innovation.

MYANMAR GOVERNMENT APPOINTED INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO

PROBE HUMAN RIGHTS AGAINST THE ETHNIC ROHINGYA MINORITY

• The Myanmar Government has appointed an independent 4- member commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses against the ethnic Rohingya minority.

• The Independent Commission will investigate the allegations of human rights violations and related issues, following the terrorist attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

• The commission will be comprised of two local members & two international members.

• It will be headed by Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo. The other members includes Japan’s former ambassador to the UN Kenzo Oshima, lawyer Mya Thein and economist and former UN official Aung Tun Thet.

• In August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s western Rakhine state to Bangladesh after a military crackdown started in response to attacks by ARSA on security posts.


August -2018



2018 INDEPENDENCE DAY EVE AS SHAHID SAMMAN DIVAS TO HONOUR MARTYRS

• The Madhya Pradesh government will observe the 2018 Independence Day eve as Shahid Samman Divas to honour martyrs.

• The decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting in Bhopal on July 30, 2018.

• According to official information, it will be a comprehensive program and spread across all the villages, blocks and districts of Madhya Pradesh, where rallies will be organized to mark the day.

• The martyrs will be paid homage and the relatives of the martyrs will also be honoured on the day.

• Ministers, members of Parliament and state legislative assembly and chief Minister himself will meet family members of martyrs on the occasion to express gratitude for supreme sacrifice done by their near and dear for the nation.

360 DEGREE NATION-WIDE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN• The Government of Odisha has launched a

360 degree nation-wide publicity campaign “Heartbeats for Hockey” to attract fans for 2018 men’s hockey World Cup.

• The movement attempts to get India behind the game by way of music, entertainment, fashion, pure sport and panel discussions.

• Each time anyone holds the custom-made hockey stick, named ‘Heart Beat’, their heart beat will be recorded as a pledge to support hockey.

• The ‘Heart Beat’ will take a round of the country through ‘Hockey Adda’, a curated on-ground discussion platform for hockey players and experts. The event will take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 28 to December 16.

• The state is the title partner for the hockey event and Odisha Tourism is the host partner. The maximum players in the national team are also from Odisha.


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INDIA’S FIRST IN-PHONE TOURISM GUIDE AND MOBILE APPLICATION “GO WHATS THAT”

• India’s first in-phone tourism guide and mobile application “Go whats That” has launched by Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, at Rock Garden in Chandigarh on July 28, 2018.

• This is first of its kind app where tourist can scan QR code at a heritage site to download the history & details of that place in multiple languages. Initially, 1,100 tags have been placed at different tourist spot.

FIRST COW SANCTUARY OF RAJASTHAN

• The first cow sanctuary in Rajasthan will be situated in Napasar, Bikaner to dedicate the entire area for cows, much on the lines of a wildlife sanctuary. It will provide shelter for 10,000 bovines spread over an area of more than 220 hectares in Bikaner district.

• The facilities in the sanctuary will include hospitals and Sewan grass as fodder for the animals.

• The state government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private trust in this regard.

• The state already has a ministry dedicated to the welfare of cows and last year it had announced a 10% surcharge on stamp duty towards cow protection.


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THE ART “B-HUB” FOR BIOTECH AND BIOPHARMA SECTOR

• The Telangana government will setup a state of the art “B-Hub” for biotech and biopharma sector in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.

• It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, aimed at providing much-needed support to the biopharma research and development activities spreading over a builtup area of 40,000 sq.ft.

• This end-to-end biopharma scale-up manufacturing facility will give domestic companies the required impetus here on par with Korea, China and France who have taken lead in biopharma innovation.

• The estimated project cost of B-Hub is Rs 60 crore and the facility is to be set up through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

THE ISSUES OF STRESSED THERMAL POWER PROJECTS

• The Union Government has constituted a high level empowered committee to address the issues of stressed thermal power projects.

• The committee will be headed by Cabinet Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Sinha with representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and the lenders having major exposure to the power sector.

• The Committee would look into the various issues with a view to resolve them and maximize the efficiency of investment including changes required to be made in the fuel allocation policy, regulatory framework, mechanisms to facilitate sale of power, ensure timely payments, payment security mechanism.


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GOLDEN BRIDGE SUPPORTED BY HAND SHAPED CONCRETE OPENED IN VIETNAM

• Vietnam’s Cau Van which means “Golden Bridge” in Vietnamese, has just opened in the Ba Na Hills near the city of Da Nang and is 150 metres long and 1,400 metres above sea level.

• The bridge supported by two hand-shaped concrete, was designed to evoke the image of the “giant hands of Gods, pulling a strip of gold out of the land”.

INDIA AND GERMANY SIGN PACT ON FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

• India and Germany have signed an agreement on financial and technical cooperation focusing on sustainable urban development and renewable energy.

• The government-to-government Umbrella Agreement on Financial Cooperation and Technical Co-operation 2017 is worth about 5,000 thousand crore rupees.

• The agreement under the Indo-German Bilateral Development Cooperation was signed between Joint Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Sameer Kumar Khare, and German Ambassador to India, Martin Ney, in New Delhi.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS



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About Germany

Currency: Euro

Capital: Berlin

Chancellor: Angela Merkel.

• Germany is in Western and Central Europe, with Denmark bordering to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria to the southeast, Switzerland to the south-southwest, France, Luxembourg and Belgium lie to the west, and the Netherlands to the northwest.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM CLAPS FOR INDIAN RAILWAYS

• One of the lifelines of India for transportation, Indian railways was praised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for its solar train launched which helped to keep the environment clean.

• WEF has also posted a video describing the features of the solar powered railway station and train of our railways.

• India’s massive diesel-guzzling railway network is getting serious about its experiments with solar.

• Indian Railways rolled out its first train with roof top solar panels that power the lights, fans, and information display systems inside passenger coaches.

• Shatabdi Express was praised by the WEF and Delhi to Bhopal train had roled out by Indian railways.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF)

h The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss non profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland.

h Recognised in 2015 by the Swiss authorities as an “other international body” under Switzerland’s Host State Act 2007 (HSA, SR 192.12), its mission is cited as “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas”.



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FOREST GREEN ROVERS NAMED WORLD’S FIRST UN CERTIFIED CARBON-

NEUTRAL FOOTBALL CLUB

• A British professional football club that is powered by renewable energy and serves vegan food to players, staff and fans has received a prestigious United Nations certification.

• Based in the Gloucestershire town of Nailsworth, the club has signed up for a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) initiative called Climate Neutral Now for the 2018-19 season.

• Based in the Gloucestershire town of Nailsworth, the club has signed up for a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) initiative called Climate Neutral Now for the 2018-19 season.

3RD BRICS FILM FESTIVAL CONCLUDED: COMPLETE LIST OF INDIAN WINNERS

• The 3rd BRICS Film Festival took place in Durban, South Africa, along with the International Durban Film Festival (DIFF). The last day of the festival (27th July) was celebrated as India Country Day, followed by Awards and Closing Ceremony. The film festival is aimed at celebrating world-class film productions from the BRICS nations with the objective of inspiring more collaboration from these nations.

INDIA INVITES DONALD TRUMP TO BE CHIEF GUEST AT NEXT

YEAR’S REPUBLIC PARADE DAY• US has indicated that it is favourably considering

the invite sent by India.

• The government pursuing the invite with determination is a sign that it doesn’t believe the differences with US are insurmountable

• The invite is also in line with Modi government’s attempts to ensure the presence of international heavyweights on R-Day.


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AAI TO JOINT VENTURE WITH SRI LANKA IN MATTALA AIRPORT PROJECT

• India’s Airport Authority of India (AAI) joint ventures with the Airport & Aviation Services in Sri Lanka to run the loss-making Mattala airport, located in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province. So far, three rounds of official negotiations were completed.

• After detailed negotiations, the two governments have agreed that India, with a 70% stake in the joint venture, will contribute $225 million to revamp and run the airport, while the Sri Lankan side will invest the balance.

• India will operate the airport on a 40-year lease. Once the technical aspects of the joint venture are prepared, the draft agreement will be presented for Cabinet clearance.

h Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) is an International Airport serving southeast Sri Lanka. It is located in the town of Mattala, 18 km (11 mi) from Hambantota.

h It is the first greenfield airport and the second international airport in the country, after Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.

h MRIA was opened in March 2013 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ordered the construction of the airport. Initially, several airlines flew to the airport, including SriLankan Airlines which established a hub.

h However, due to low demand, most of these airlines left Mattala. As of June 2018 there are no scheduled flights from the airport.

THE EIGHTH EAST ASIA SUMMIT (EAS) FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING

• Foreign Minister Mr. Taro Kono attended the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting which was held in Singapore, Minister Kono stressed that EAS has proven itself to be an effective mechanism to tackle issues such as the issue of North Korea, facilitation of maritime cooperation, and promotion of free trade.

• The Meeting was chaired by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore.


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• A number of the participating countries emphasized the importance to further strengthen the EAS as the premier forum of the region.

INDIA AND KYRGYZSTAN DEEPEN BILATERAL TIES ON HEALTH, TOURISM, DEFENCE AND SECURITY

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Kyrgyzstan Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev discussed possible areas of collaboration and the areas discussed during the bilateral meeting includes political and parliamentary exchanges, defense and security, science and technology, economic, health and tourism.

About KyrgyzstanOfficial languages: Kyrgyz (national and official)Religion: Islam, ChristianityCurrency: Somoni (KGS)

MASS BREAST FEEDING EVENT ORGANISED IN PHILIPPINES

• Hundreds of Philippine mothers simultaneously nursed their babies in public, some of them two at a time, in a government-backed mass breastfeeding event aimed at combating child deaths.

• The World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund recommend that children be given breast milk within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for their first six months.

h The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, and is head quartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

h The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations.

h The constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by 63 countries on 7 April 1948, with the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948.


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US-CHINA TRADE WAR CAN MAKE INDIAN PRODUCTS COMPETITIVE, RECITE BY CII

• India can focus on numerous goods for expanding its exports to the US and China markets following the hike in duties by both countries on imports from each other.

• With the US imposing additional 25 per cent duty on imports worth USD 34 billion from China, certain Indian products may become more competitive, CII (Confederation of Indian Industry ) .

• An analysis by the industry chamber revealed that India should focus on the US market for items in the categories of machinery, electrical equipment, vehicles and transport parts, chemicals, plastics and rubber products.

U.K. TO HAVE NEW ORGAN DONATION LAW• The U.K. government on Sunday announced new plans to

change the law for organ and tissue donation to address the urgent need for organs within Indian-origin community in the country.

• The proposed new system of consent for organ and tissue donation, which will presume that people have agreed to transplants unless they have specifically opted out, is expected to come into effect in England in 2020 as part of a drive to help Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people.

UK ANNOUNCES NEW ORGAN DONATION PLAN TO ADDRESS INDIAN ORIGIN SHORTAGES

• The UK government has announced new plans to change the law for organ and tissue donation to address the urgent need for organs within the Indian-origin communities in the country.

• The proposed new system of consent for organ and tissue donation is expected to come into effect in England in 2020, as part of a drive to help black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people desperately waiting for a life-saving transplant.


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SAUDI STOPS TREATMENT PROGRAMMES IN CANADA

• Saudi Arabia has stopped all medical treatment programmes in Canada and is coordinating for the transfer of Saudi patients to medical facilities outside the country.

• The agency cited Dr Fahd bin Ibrahim Al Tamimi, Saudi Health Attache in the US and Canada, as reciting that “the mission seeks to ensure the safety of Saudi patients who receive treatment in Canada with their companions, and to complete their treatment elsewhere”.

• The move came amid an intensifying spat over human rights between the two countries, after Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s Ambassador in Riyadh, recalled its own Ambassador from Ottawa and froze “all new business” with Canada.

• The Middle East country also decided to suspend all training and scholarship programmes in Canada by the end of the Islamic calendar year in September, the Cultural Bureau of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education announced.

PAKISTANI TROOPS TO UNDERGO TRAINING AT RUSSIAN INSTITUTES

• First time, Pakistani soldiers will undergo training at Russian military institutes after the two countries signed an agreement related to it, in a sign of further strengthening their defence ties amid Islamabad’s increasingly uneasy relations with the United States.

• The agreement was signed at the conclusion of the first meeting of Russia-Pakistan Joint Military Consultative Committee (JMCC) — the highest forum of their defence collaboration, according to Pakistan’s defence ministry.

• The Russian side was led by deputy defence minister Col. Gen. Alexander V.Fomin, and Lt. Gen (retd) Zamirul Hassan Shah, secretary defence, led the Pakistani delegation.


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UAE TOP SOURCE OF INWARD REMITTANCES IN 2016-17

• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the top source of inward remittances, while Kerala has received the maximum funds sent from abroad, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s survey of inward remittances for 2016-17.

• UAE’s share in total remittances was 26.9%, followed by the United States (22.9%), Saudi Arabia (11.6%), Qatar (6.5%) and Kuwait (5.5%).

• According to the survey, 82% of the total remittances received by India originated from eight countries — UAE, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

• Kerala has the highest share with 19%, followed by Maharashtra (16.7%), Karnataka (15%), Tamil Nadu (8%) and Delhi (5.9%).

• Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu together received 58.7% of total remittances.

US CUTS MILITARY TRAINING PROGRAM FOR PAKISTAN

• US military institutions are struggling to fill the 66 slots they had kept aside for officers from Pakistan for the next academic year, as President Donald Trump’s administration refused to provide funds for their training

h The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy.

h It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge, USN, as president. It is located on the grounds of Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.

• The fund for training Pakistani officers came from the US government’s International Military Education and Training Programme (IMET) but no funds were made available for Pakistan for the next academic year

• The Trump administration announced early this year that it was suspending security assistance to Pakistan over differences on Afghanistan but indicated that training programmes for military officers will continue.

• Dawn first learned about the suspension from the US National Defence University (NDU), Washington, which has had reserved seats for Pakistani officers for more than a decade now.


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FRANCE TO SLAP PENALTIES ON PLASTIC NEXT YEAR

• France plans to introduce a penalty system that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, as part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025.

• Products with recycled plastic packaging could cost up to 10% less, while those containing non-recycled plastic up to 10% more.

VIENNA IS THE WORLD’S MOST LIVEABLE CITY • Austria’s capital Vienna has beaten Melbourne to be ranked the world’s most liveable

city in a new survey released by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

• Japan’s Osaka took Third place.

COUNTRIES PLACESAustralia (Melbourne, Sydney) 5th Adelaide 10thCanada (Calgary) 4thVacouver 6thToronto 7th

DEMOCRATS NOMINATE FIRST TRANSGENDER

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR

• Former energy executive Christine Hallquist has won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Vermont, moving a step closer to becoming the first ever transgender governor of a US state.

• Hallquist, 62, defeated three other candidates, including 14-year-old school boy Ethan Sonneborn, to win the Democratic Party nomination .


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• She will now face the incumbent Republican Governor Phil Scott in the general election in November.

INDIA GIFTS 30 AMBULANCES TO NEPAL ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

• India today gifted 30 ambulances and six buses to Nepalese hospitals, charitable organizations and educational institutions on the occasion of its 72nd Independence Day.

• Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over keys of the vehicles to the representatives of the respective organizations at a function in the premises of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu .

• A function was organised in Kathmandu to mark the Independence Day. Puri hoisted the Indian national flag and read out the message of President of India that highlighted the achievements of India in various fields in the past even decades.

24TH WORLD CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHY HELD IN BEIJING, CHINA

• The 24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) was held in Beijing, China from August 13 to 17, 2018. It was organized by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies, and Peking University. Its theme was “Learning To Be Human”.

• This was first time that the quinquennial (once in five year) event was held in China.

WORLD CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHY

h It is global meeting of philosophers held every five years (quinquennialy) under auspices of International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). It was first organized in 1900 in Paris, France and since it has become one of the largest philosophical events in the world. Its purpose is to contribute to development of processional relations between philosophers of all countries, promote philosophical education, and contribute to impact of philosophical knowledge on global problems. Each World Congress is sponsored by one of member societies in difference country, which assumes responsibility for organization of that congress.


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IRAN UNVEILS ITS FIRST DOMESTIC FIGHTER JET

• Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet, with President Hassan Rouhani insisting that Tehran’s military strength was only designed to deter enemies and was aimed at creating “lasting peace.”

• Images on state television showed Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new “Kowsar” fourth-generation fighter at the National Defense Industry exhibition in Tehran.

• State media said it had “advanced avionics” and multi-purpose radar, and that it was “100-percent indigenously made” for the first time.

• Footage of the Kowsar’s test flights was circulated by various official media.

• But live footage of the plane taxiing along a runway at the defence show was cut before it took off. And it was 100 % Indigenously made “ For the first time “.

SWEDEN LAUNCHES ‘FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY’ MANUAL

• Sweden on August 23, 2018 released a handbook of its “feminist foreign policy” for rights groups and foreign governments, showcasing lessons from the nation’s flagship approach to promote women’s rights globally.

• The manual was published on the Swedish government’s website. It is derived from four years of work to place gender equality at the heart of the country’s international agenda.

• It has been led by Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom since its inception in 2014.

Feminist Policy

h In 2015, Sweden’s diplomatic ties with Riyadh were frozen after the Swedish Foreign Minister called Saudi Arabia a “dictatorship”, denouncing its treatment of women in particular in a way that other western diplomats might have avoided while dealing with the oil-rich state.

h Further, there has been a growing influence of women in Sweden’s own foreign service with the nation seeing a rapid increase in the number of women ambassadors, from just 10 per cent in 1996 to 40 per cent in 2016.


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UNITED NATION’S E-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT INDEX (EGDI) 2018

• India has been ranked 96th in the United Nation’s E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2018.

• The survey, released by UN every two years, noted that India has scored 100% in the 1 st stage of the e-Participation sub-index, followed by 95.65% in the 2 nd stage and 90.91% in the 3 rd stage.

• The overall score of 0.9551 on the E-Participation sub-index has put India among top 15 countries in the list of 193 counties surveyed. In this category, India has emerged as sub-region leader.

• Denmark is the world leader, both on E-Government index and E-Participation sub-index.

11TH WORLD HINDI CONFERENCE (WHC) 2018

• The 11th World Hindi Conference 2018 (WHC) has started in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius,with theme “Hindi World and Indian Culture” on August 18. It was organized by the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) in association with the Government of Mauritius.

WORLD HINDI CONFERENCE (WHC), THE PANINI LANGUAGE

LABORATORY HAS BEEN GIFTED• The “Panini Language Laboratory” has been inaugurated by

Sushma Swaraj, the Union Minister ofExternal Affairs (MEA), during the 11th World Hindi Conference (WHC) 2018 at Mahatma GandhiInstitute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius on August 19.

• The Lab has been gifted by the Government of India (GoI) and it will help MGI in teaching of all Indian languages in Mauritius.

• The delegates from across the globe underlined the need of developing software for Hindi which can be available to common people on a reasonable price.


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TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

UAE LAUNCHES AMNESTY SCHEME FOR OVERSTAYERS

• The UAE launched a landmark three month Visa amnesty programme that will benefit hundreds of illegal foreign workers ,including Indians,who are overstaying their permits.

• The UAE is home to 2.8 million Indian expatriates , the largest expatriate community in the country .

• As per Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship ,the entity responsible for entry and residence of foreigners in the UAE ,Visa violatersbefore August 1,2018 will be able to rectify their status legally during the amnesty period, which will end on October 31.

h Amnesty Scheme is defined as: “A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted.”

h Amnesty is more and more used to express “freedom” and the time when prisoners can go free.

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TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

TAMIL NADU DEVELOPMENT CENTRE AGREEMENT WITH ALLAHABAD

MULTILINGUAL SYSTEM

• Tanjore Tamil University Signed an agreement with the Allahabad Multi lingual System.

• To promote Tamil language among the country.

BHARTI AIRTEL PLANS TO PROVIDE OPTICAL FIBRE NETWORK IN TAMIL NADU

• Bharti Airtel plans to provide optical fibre network in Tamil Nadu.

• Being the telecommunications provider, it aims to improve network connectivity in the State.

• Currently, Tamil Nadu has a fibre network for 14,000 km. With Bharti Airtel’s plan for a rollout of 3,000 km of fresh optic fibre, it would touch 17,000 km in 2021.

• The company has planned to invest Rs. 24,000 crore to Rs. 26,000 crore pan-India in mobile network sites, capacities, fibre rollout and digitalisation among others.

• Bharti Airtel is planning to open 12,000 new mobile sites across the State to add to network capacity and take high-speed data services deeper into rural areas.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSTAMILNADU AFFAIRS

DELHI, TAMIL NADU AND GUJARAT EMERGES MOST-ATTRACTIVE STATE FOR INVESTORS

IN INVESTMENT POTENTIAL INDEX• Delhi emerged the most-attractive state for investors on the top position on the National

Council for Applied and Economic Research (NCAER)’s 2018 State Investment Potential Index.

• Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh retained their first and second positions.

h National Council of Applied Economic Research or NCAER is a New Delhi based non-profit think tank of economics.

h NandanNilekani is President of the Governing Body and Dr Shekhar Shah is current Director General of NCAER.

h It was established in 1956 with financial support from the Ford Foundation, Finance Ministry and Tata Sons.

h Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of NCAER campus on October 31, 1959.

MULLAIPERIYAR DAM SAFE, LEVEL CAN GO UP TO 142 FEET, SAYS SUPERVISORY PANEL

• MADURAI: The supervisory committee constituted by the Supreme Court inspected the Mullaiperiyar dam on Staturday and said that the dam was fit enough for the water level to be raised to 142 feet. The committee was led by its chairman, Gulshan Raj, who is chief engineer at the Central Water Commission, Dam Safety Organisation (DSO).

• Western Ghats, the level in the dam on Saturday was 134.75 feet. The original level of the dam the construction of which was completed in 1895 was 152, but it was maintained at 132 feet, till Tamil Nadu government went to court and got the direction to raise it to 142 feet. The supervisory committee was appointed to look into this matter.

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TAMIL NADU AT NO. 2 IN STUDENT SUICIDES

• Tamil Nadu has recorded the most suicides after Maharashtra of students in schools and colleges, according to data provided by Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha in response to a question in the LokSabha on July 30.

• K.P.O. Suresh, president of the Tamil Nadu Postgraduate Teachers Association recited that “The state has 112 education districts. If two counsellors are appointed per district, they would be able to visit each school by rotation and ensure student welfare. But the government has been lathargic,”.

h Tamil Nadu Government’s suicide prevention helpline number - 104.

STERLITE FINALLY GETS GREEN TRIBUNAL’S NOD FOR TUTICORIN PLANT

• India’s National Green Tribunal (NGT) gave Vedanta Group’s subsidiary the go-ahead to operate its 4,00,000-tpy copper smelter in Tuticorin.

• The decision comes after the NGT authorised the plant to restart on a temporary basis at the end of May, more than two months after the site was shut down pending an environmental review.

• The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had ordered closure of the Sterlite plant following complaints that the sulfur dioxide gas leak on May 23 led to serious ailments among the residents of Thoothukudi town eight km away from Tuticorin.

TAMIL NADU HAS GOT ITS FIRST PLACE TO DONATE BLOOD IN NATIONAL LEVEL

• C.Samuel Sellaiah, Regional Directorate recited that Tamil Nadu got its first place to donating blood in National level ,it has been conducting by the N.S.S ( National Social Service).

• In Tamil Nadu , D.G. vaishanav College got its place to donating blood in state level.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES 24 HOURS TOLL FREE HELPLINE

FOR EDUCATION QUERIES

• For the first time in the country, a 24-hour helpline number has been set up with the objective of providing information on education and offer guidance to students, said the Tamil Nadu government.

• The toll free number ‘14417’ was formally launched by Chief Minister K Palaniswami through the 24 hour education guidance centre set up at the secretariat.

• It would offer information relating to school education and offer guidance to students.

SPORTS PERSONS TO GET 2% SUB-QUOTA IN GOVT. JOBS

• Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami announced a 2% sub Quota in select government jobs for sportspersons who win medals at National –level games or in events organized by the State government .

• The quota will also apply to vacancies in State Public Sector Undertakings.

• Those from Tamil Nadu who win laurels in recognized International tournaments or represent the country in those events would also be eligible for the quota.

TAMIL NADU GOVERNOR BANWARILAL PUROHIT HOISTS TRI-COLOUR AT RAJ BHAVAN

• Governor Banwarilal Purohit hoisted the national tricolour on the Raj Bhavan lawns, marking a welcome beginning of the patriotic ceremony at the First Citizen’s abode.

• “It was for the first time that our national flag was hoisted in the Raj Bhavan on Independence Day. We felt very happy, and proud”, recited a staffer, adding that none of earlier Governors had undertaken the patriotic duty.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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KALPANA CHAWLA AWARD• CM of Tamil Nadu inspecting the guard of honour during the Independence day celebrations

in Chennai and I.Muthukumari receiving the Kalpana Chawla Award.

h Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.

h She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.

h In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the craft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

h Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

ABDUL KALAM AWARD • The Dhaksha (UAV) Team, Centre for Aerospace Research, Anna University was given the

Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Award for the year 2018.

h The Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award, named after the 11th President of India and aerospace scientist A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is awarded by the Government of Tamil Nadu in recognition of contributions on scientific development, humanities and students’ welfare.

h On 31 July 2015, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha announced after the death of Kalam (July 27, 2015) that an award will be given annually in his name.

h The award prize will be five hundred thousand Indian rupees (about US$7,700), a certificate and a gold medal weighing eight grams.

ISRO TO COMMISSION ROCKET LAUNCH PAD IN KULASEKARAPATTINAM

• Scientists and Politicians batting for Third ISRO Launch Pad in Tuticorin (Kulasekarapattinam)

• ISRO has gained lot of popularity after Chandrayan, which got more boost with Mangalyan (a rocket to explore Planet Mars)

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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• With the need for more satellites in the modern times, ISRO is expanding its launching capabilities. ISRO is planning to have one more Launch Pad and is looking for options

h Option 1) Sriharikota

h Option 2) Kulasekarapattinam

REASON TO CHOOSE

• Scientists after the feasibility study prefer Kulasekarapattinam say Tuticorin (Kulasekarapattinam) is a good location for a rocket that needs to fly southwards. As a matter of fact, Tuticorin was long ago considered for locating a rocket launching site but the locals opposed this,” recited by a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

• “A rocket launch site should be on the east coast and near the equator. And Tuticorin district satisfies that condition,”

h The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore.

h Its vision is to “harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.”

h Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

h The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalized space activities in India. It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE GETS HELD AT TANJORE BY ICRAFPT

• International Conference on Recent Advances in Food Processing Technology (ICRAFPT) gets held at Tanjore.

• The theme of the conference was “Doubling farmers” income through food processing”.

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.

• The conference provides a strong platform for knowledge sharing and meaningful delegation among industry, academia, researchers and farmers which will potentially impact the food sector growth to a newer height.

TAMIL NADU RANKS FIRST IN SELVA MAGAL SEMIPPU THITTAM

• Tamil Nadu ranks first in Selvamagal Semippu Thittam in national level.

• In three years Rs 2,940 crore deposition has been done at Tamil Nadu .

• The Minimum balance has been lowered enable more people to enjoy benefits of this scheme

SELVAMAGAL SEMIPPU THITTAM

• It is a successful scheme for girl child which is called as “Selva Magal Semippu Thittam” in Tamil Nadu. It is formally called as “Sukanya Samriddi Account” in Hindi which means Girl child Prosperity Scheme.

SUKANYA SAMRIDDHI YOJANA

• It was launched as a small savings scheme under BetiBachoBetiPadho (BBBP) in January 2015. It aims to motivate parents to open an account in name of girl child for her welfare and meet expense requirements of higher education and marriage. Under this scheme, parent or legal guardian of a girl child can open an account in her name until she attains the age of ten years. The account can be opened via post office or commercial banks.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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SHARP DROP IN NUMBER OF CHILDLINE CALLS IN 2018-19

• The number of calls received by the Childline service for children in distress in Tamil Nadu has shown a sharp drop in 2018-19, data provided by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development

• The Ministry furnished the data in response to various queries from Members of Parliament relating to measures that have been taken for the protection of women and children in the country. the alarm bells ringing among child rights activists.

TAMIL NADU HEALTH DEPT SIGNS PACT WITH AUSTRALIA

• Tamil Nadu’s Health and Family Welfare Department has entered into a pact with the Government of Victoria, Australia.

• This statement of intent will pave the way for efficient trauma system governance, creation of trauma registry and improvement in trauma care quality and research.

• C. Vijaya Baskar, Health Minister, and Jill Hennessy, Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Victoria, signed the agreement on Wednesday. Dr. Baskar and a team of officials, including J. Radhakrishnan, State Health Secretary, and P. Umanath, managing director of Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation, are on an exposure visit to Australia.

• The department, with the assistance of the National Trauma Research Institute, Australia, had implemented the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative, which was based on the accident and emergency care protocols of Victoria Hospital, in Australia.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

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MAERSK’S MUMBAI RECORDS WORLD’S ‘HIGHEST LOAD’

• Maersk Line recited one of its container vessels named after Mumbai set a ‘world record’ by achieving a load of 19,038 TEU, the highest-ever load so far, surpassing the 19,000-mark for the very first time — not only for a Maersk vessel, but also any vessel in the world.

• The world record load of 19,038 TEU has raised a new bar for Maersk by surpassing Madison Maersk, a first generation Triple-E class vessel, which reached 18,215 TEU in 2015.

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GETS SERIOUS ON 2019 PLASTIC BAN

• Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami launched a plastic pollution-free Tamil Nadu and his government also made popular actors - Vivek, Suriya, Karthi and actress Jyothika, as brand ambassadors.

• He also launched an exclusive web portal: www.plasticpollutionfreetn.org and a mobile application, on the occasion, as part of an effort to stop use of plastics in Tamil Nadu from January 1, 2019.

• Short films to promote recycling plastic waste were also released and it was mainly to ban single use plastics.

• The initiatives are in accordance with the State government’s announcement coinciding with the world environment day on June 5, to ban the use of plastics including non-biodegradable carry bags, from January one, 2019, in order to gift a plastic-free State to posterity.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

August -2018



TN GOVT. RELEASES BOOK ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN

• The Tamil Nadu government unveiled its disaster management plan ‘State Disaster Management Perspective Plan 2018- 2030,’ prepared by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department.

• The Tamil Nadu Disaster Management Perspective Plan has been framed under the Disaster Management Act of 2005.

• United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals of 2030, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and its goals, National Disaster Management Plan of 2016 and Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda on disaster risk reduction, formed the basis for preparing the futuristic plan.

TAMILNADU AFFAIRS

August -2018



GOLDEN TRIBUTE• ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj Terminus in

Mumbai illuminated with golden lights to commemorate 70 years of independent India’s first Olympic gold medal.

• On August 12, 1948, the Indian hockey team, led by KishanLal, an Indian Railways employee, won gold at the London Olympics. Another employee, Leslie Claudius, was also in the team.

Baramulla Operation

h Baramulla is a city and a municipality in the Baramulla district in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (India).

h It is on the bank of the Jhelum River downstream from Srinagar, the state capital. The city was earlier known as Varahamula which is Sanskritfor “boar’s molar”.

MAHADAYI TRIBUNAL

h The tribunal was constituted in 2010n to equitably allot Mahadayi water among Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.

h Recently, It allows Karnataka to divert Water

h This panel headed by Justice J.M. Panchal, and its reported to Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari.

h Goa has historically been opposed to such a diversion on the grounds that it needed water for its own purposes as well maintaining ecological flow.

OTHER NEWS

OTHER NEWS

August -2018


TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSOTHER NEWS

National Tiger Conservation Authority of India (NTCA)

h The National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA) was established in December 2005 following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India for re-organised management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger Reserves in India.

h The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange of India, located in Mumbai.

h The NSE was established in 1992 as the first demutualized electronic exchange in the country.

h NSE was the first exchange in the country to provide a modern, fully automated screen-based electronic trading system which offered easy trading facility to the investors spread across the length and breadth of the country.

h Vikram Limaye is Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of NSE.

NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR PROTECTION OF CHILD RIGHTS

h The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is a Statutory Body established by an Act of Parliament, Protection of Child Rights Act 2005.

h The commission works under the aegis of Min. of Women and Child development, GoI. The Commission began operation in March 2007.

h The Commission considers that its Mandate is “to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

h Its present chairman is Stuti Narain Kacker.

h It defines a child as a person under age of 18 years..The Act makes abettment of child sexual abuse an offence.

h The Parliament of India passed the ‘Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill, 2011’ regarding child sexual abuse on 22 May 2012 into Act.

POCSO Act

h The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012.

August -2018



GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

REGUPATHI COMMISSION• The commission , constituted by then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in June 2011, was

inquiring into alleged irregularities in the construction in the Assembly-cum- Secretariat complex in Omandurar Government Estate.

• The complex was constructed during the erstwhile DMK regime between 2006 and 2011.

MULLAIPERIYAR DAM• The Mullaiperiyar Dam is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian

state of Kerala.

• It is located 881 m (2,890 ft) above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, South India.

• It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to donate water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area (present-day Tamil Nadu).

• It has a height of 53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation, and a length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft).

HISTORY ABOUT ROHINGYAROHINGYA PEOPLE:

• The Rohingya are considered the most-persecuted minority in the world.

• 8th Century: The Rohingya lived in an independent kingdom in Arakan, now known as

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018


TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRSGENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Rakhine State.

• 9th to 14th Century: The Rohingya came into contact with Islam through Arab traders.

• 1784: Burman King Bodawpaya conquered Arakan.

• 1824 to 1942: Britain captured Burma and made it a province of British India.

• 1942: Japan invaded Burma, pushing out the British.

• 1945: Britain liberated Burma from Japanese occupation with the help of nationalists and Rohingya fighters.

• 1948: Tensions increased between Burma and the Rohingya, many of whom wanted Arakan to join Pakistan.

• 1977: More than 2,00,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh following a military operation.

• 1982: A new immigration law did not recognise the Rohingya as one of the 135 ethnic groups.

• 1991: More than 2,50,000 Rohingya refugees fled persecution.

• 2012: Rioting between Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed more than 100 people, mostly Rohingya. Tens of thousands of people were driven into Bangladesh.

• August 25, 2017: Military began clearance operations following attacks by Arakan militants.

S.No Name River District Comple-tion Year

Type

1 A a n a i m a d u v u Dam

Anaimaduvu Salem 1993 Earthen

2 Adavinainarkovil Dam

Tamiraparani Tirunelveli 2002 Gravity & Masonry

3 Aliyar Dam Aliyar Coimbatore 1962 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

4 Amaravathi Dam Amaravati Tiruppur 1958 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

5 Anaikuttam Dam Arjuna Nadhi Virudhuna-gar

1989 Earthen

6 AndiappanurOdai Dam

Pambar Vellore 2007 -

7 Avalanche Dam Avalanche & Emer-ald Streams

The Nilgiris 1961 Gravity & Masonry

August -2018



8 Barur Dam Barur Krishnagiri -9 Berijam Lake KodiyetanAr Dindigul -10 Bungihalla Bund Bhavani The Nilgiris 1965 Earthen11 C h e m b a r a m -

bakkam DamK a n c h e e p -uram

-

12 Chinnar Dam Chinnar Krishnagiri 1977 Earthen13 Chittar I Dam Chittar Kanniyaku-

mari1970 Earthen

14 Chittar II Dam Chittar Kanniyaku-mari

1970 Earthen

15 East Varahapal-lam dam

East varahapallam The Nilgiris 1967 Gravity & Masonry

16 Emerald Dam Emerald The Nilgiris 1961 Gravity & Masonry

17 Eravangalar Dam Eravangalar Theni 1978 Gravity & Masonry

18 Gatana Dam Gatananadhi Tirunelveli 1974 Earthen19 Glenmorgan Glenmorgan St The Nilgiris 1930 Gravity &

Masonry20 GlenmorganFor-

bay DamThe Nilgiris 1930 Gravity &

Masonry21 Golwarpatti Dam Arujuna & Gowsi-

haVirudhuna-gar

1993 -

22 G o m u k h i n a d i Dam

Gomukhinadhi Viluppuram 1965 Earthen

23 Gundar Dam Gundar Tirunelveli 1983 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

24 Gunder ipa l lam Dam

Gunderipallam periyar 1978 Earthen

25 Highwavys Dam Highwavys St. Theni 1978 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

26 Irukkangudi Dam Vaippar, Arjuna Virudhuna-gar

2009 Earthen

27 Kadamparai Dam Kadambarai Coimbatore 1984 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



28 Kamraju Sagar (Sandy Nalla) Dam

Sandynallah The Nilgiris 1963 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

29 Kariakoil Dam Kariakovil Salem 1993 Earthen

30 K a r u p p a n a d h i Dam

Karuppanadhi Tirunelveli 1977 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

31 K e l a v a r a p a l l i Dam

Ponniar Krishnagiri 1993 Earthen

32 Kesarigul ihal la Dam

K.gulihalla Dharmapuri 1985 Earthen

33 Kodaganar Dam Dindigul 1993 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

34 K o d u m u d i y a r Dam

Nambiyar Tirunelveli 2003 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

35 Krishnagiri Dam Ponniar Krishnagiri 1958 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

36 K u l l u r s a n d a i Dam

Vaippar Virudhuna-gar

1984 Earthen

37 Kundah Palam Dam

Kundah The Nilgiris 1961 Gravity & Masonry

38 K u p p a n a t h a m Dam

Cheyyar T i r u v a n -namalai

-

39 Kuthiraiyar Dam Kuthiraiyar Dindigul 1990 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

40 Kuttiyadi (Aug-mentation Main ) (Padinjarethara)

Karamenthodu Kozhikode 2004 Earthen

41 Kuttiyar Dam Kuttiyar Kanniyaku-mari

-

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



42 Lower Bhavani Dam

Bhavani Erode 1955 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

43 Lower Kodayar Dam

Kodayar Kanniyaku-mari

1972 Gravity & Masonry

44 Lower Nirar Dam Nirar Coimbatore 1982 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

45 Mambazhathurai-yar

Mambazhathurai-yar

Kanniyaku-mari

2011 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

46 Manalar Dam Manalar Theni 1978 Gravity & Masonry

47 Manimukthana-dhi Dam

Manimuktha Viluppuram 1970 Earthen

48 Manimuthar Dam Manimuthur Tirunelveli 1958 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

49 Manjalar Dam Manjalar Theni 1967 Earthen

50 MaravakandiFor-bay Dam

Aravarihalla The Nilgiris 1947 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

51 M a r u d h a n a d i Dam

Maurdhanadhi Dindigul 1979 Earthen

52 Mettur Dam Cauvery Salem 1934 Gravity & Masonry

53 Mirugandanadhi Dam

T i r u v a n -namalai

-

54 Mordhana Dam Koundanyanadhi Vellore 2001 Gravity & Masonry

55 Moyar Forebay Dam

The Nilgiris 1951 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



56 Mukurthy Dam Mukurthi The Nilgiris 1938 -

57 Nagavathi Dam Nagavathy Dharmapuri 1986 Earthen

58 NallathangalOdai Dam

NallathangalOdai Tiruppur 2007 -

59 Nambiar Dam Nambiar Tirunelveli 2004 Earthen

60 Nanganjiyar Dam Nanganjiyar Dindigul 2007 Gravity & Masonry

61 Nilayur Bed Dam Vagai Madurai Earthen

62 N o y y -a lAthupalayam Dam

Noyyal Karur 1992 Earthen

63 N o y y a l -Orathupalayam Dam

Noyyal Tiruppur 1992 Earthen

64 PalarPorundalar Dam

PalarPorundalar Dindigul 1978 Earthen

65 Pambar Dam Pambar Krishnagiri 1983 Earthen

66 Papanasam Dam Thambraparani Tirunelveli 1944 Gravity & Masonry

67 Parappalar Dam Parappalar Dindigul 1974 Gravity & Masonry

68 ParsonS Valley Dam

Parson Valley Stream

The Nilgiris 1966 Gravity & Masonry

69 Pechiparai Dam Kodaiyar Kanniyaku-mari


70 Pegumbahallah Forebay Dam

Pengumbahallh The Nilgiris 1965 Gravity & Masonry

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



71 Periyar Forebay Vairavanar Theni 1958 Gravity & Masonry

72 P e r u m p a l l a m Dam

Perumpalam Erode -

73 Perunchani Dam Paralayar Kanniyaku-mari


74 PilavukkalKovilar Dam

Kovilar Madurai -

75 PilavukkalPeriyar Dam

Periyar Virudhuna-gar

-

76 Pillur Dam Bhavani Coimbatore 1967 Gravity & Masonry

77 Poigaiyar Dam Poigai Kanniyaku-mari

2000 Earthen

78 Ponnaniar Dam Ponnaniyar Karur 1974 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

79 Poondi Dam Kosasthalaiyar Thiruvallur 1944 Earthen

80 Porthimund Dam Porthimund St The Nilgiris 1966 Gravity & Masonry

81 Puthen Dam Kodayar Kanniyaku-mari

-

82 Pykara Dam The Nilgiris -

83 RajathopeKanar Dam

Rajathopekanar Chittoor 1997 Gravity & Masonry

84 Ramanadhi Dam Ramanadhi Tirunelveli 1974 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

85 Sathanur Dam Ponniar T i r u v a n -namalai

1958 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



86 Sathiyar Sathaiyaru Madurai 1965 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

87 Servalar Dam Servalar/ Tambira-parani

Tirunelveli 1986 Gravity & Masonry

88 Shanmuganadhi Dam

Theni -

89 Shenbagathope Dam

Kamandalar T i r u v a n -namalai

2007 Earthen

90 Sholayar Dam Sholayar Coimbatore 1971 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

91 ShoolagiriChin-nar Dam

ShoolagiriChinnar Krishnagiri 1986 Earthen

92 Siddhamalli Dam Ariyalur 1987 Earthen

93 Sothupparai Dam Varaganadhi Dindigul 2001 Gravity & Masonry

94 Thirumurthi Dam Palar Tiruppur 1967 Earthen

95 Thoppaiyar Dam Thoppaiyar Dharmapuri 1986 Earthen

96 T h u m b l a h a l l i Dam

Pulapatti Dharmapuri 1983 Earthen

97 Uppar( Erode) Dam

Uppar Tiruppur 1968 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

98 Upper Aliyar Dam Aliyar Coimbatore 1971 Gravity & Masonry

99 Upper Bhavani Dam

Bhavani The Nilgiris 1965 Gravity & Masonry

100 Upper Kodayar Dam



GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



101 Upper Kodayar Diversion dam


-

102 VadakkuPaichai-yar Dam

Vadakkupaichaiyar Tirunelveli 2003 Earthen

103 Vaigai Dam Vaigai Theni 1959 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

104 Vaniar Dam Vaniar Dharmapuri 1985 Earthen

105 Varadhamanadhi Dam

Varadhamanadhi D i n d u g a l Anna

1978 Earthen

106 Varattar Dam Dharmapuri 2005 Earthen / Gravity & Masonry

107 Vara t tupa l l am Dam

Varattupallam Erode 1978 Earthen

108 Vattamalaikara-iOdai Dam

V.K. Odai Tiruppur 1978 Earthen

109 Vembakottai Dam Virudhuna-gar

1985 Earthen

110 Vennir-Ar Dam Vennirar idukki 1978 Gravity & Masonry

111 Vidur Dam Varahanadi Viluppuram 1959 Earthen

112 West Varahapal-lam Weir Dam

W.V.Pallam Nilgiri 1967 Gravity & Masonry

113 Western Catch-ment No. I Dam

Arickyampuzha Nilgiri 1966 Gravity & Masonry

114 Western Catch-ment No. II Dam

Karampuzha Nilgiri 1966 Gravity & Masonry

115 Western Catch-ment No. III Dam

Karampuzha Nilgiri 1966 Gravity & Masonry

116 Willington Dam Periyaodai Cuddalore 1923 Earthen

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



LIST OF LAKES IN TAMIL NADURed hills lake

h The Red Hills Lake is also refereed as Puzhal Lake. Red hill lake is situated in Thiruvallur district of state Tamilnadu.

Chembarambakkam Lake

h Chembarambakkam lake is situated in Kanchipuram district. Chembarambakkam lake is located at a distance of 40 km from Madurai of Tamilnadu.

Veeranam Lake

h Veeranam Lake is situated at a distance of 14 km from Chidambaram. Veeranam lake is one of the largest lake of Tamilnadu. Veeranam lake is situated in Cuddalore district of state Tamilnadu.

Pulicat Lake

h Pulicat lake is situated on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Coromandal beach of state Tamilnadu. Pulicat lake is the second largest water pond of India.

Kolavai Lake

h Kolavai Lake is situated in Kanchipuram district of Tamilnadu. It is one of the major tour-ist attraction of Chengalpattu one of the tourist spots, which lies on the eastern side of Chengalpattu city.

Ambattur Lake

h Ambattur Lake get water from natural resource like rain. Ambattur lake is ful during the period of monsoon. The water of this lake is supplied to Madurai for drinking purpose.

Kodaikanal Lake

h Kodaikanal Lake is also referred as Kodai Lake. Kodai lake is a synthetic lake created by human itself. Kodaikanal lake is situated in Dindigul region of state Tamilnadu.

Singanallur Lake

h Singanallur lake is situated in Coimbatore town of Tamilnadu. Singallur lake is the biggest tourist attraction of Coimbatore city.

Valankulam Lake

h Valankulam Lake is in between Sungam region of state Tamilnadu. Valankulam lake is situated in Coimbatore city of Tamilnadu.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

August -2018



PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. International Army Games 2018 conducted on which country?(A) Russia (B) China (C) Brazil (D) Italy

2. Who has been lead the Indian Hockey team at 18th Asian games 2018?(A) Sunil Chettri (B) Srigesh (C) Sardhar Singh (D) Vurubindhar Singh

3. According to morgan Stanley report, India GDP to remain at much percent?(A) 7.5 % (B) 7.4% (C) 7.5% (D) 7.6%

4. Bandipur National part was formed in which year?(A) 1972 (B) 1973(C) 1974 (D) 1975

5. What does NTCA stands for?(A) National Tiger Conservation Authority(B) National Tiger Census Authority(C) National Tiger Counting Authority(D) National Tiger Census Association

6. The Sub-categorisation of the other Backboard class commission headed by whom?(A) Justice Rohini (B) Justice Ram Shankar Kathraya(C) Justice Nanthakumar sai(D) Justice V.Easvaraiya

7. Which country invites US President Donald Trump as Chief guest for 2019 Republic Day?(A) Pakistan (B) India (C) Singapore (D) Russia

8. National Commission for Backward classes is constituted at which year?(A) 14 August 1993 (B) 15 August 1993 (C) 14 August 1992 (D) 26 January 1993

9. Who won Gold medal in World women’s singles Badminton championship(A) Nosmi Okahara (B) Carolin Marin (C) Sungji (D) Saina Nehwal

PRACTICE QUESTION

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



10. Who was the governor of Tamil Nadu in the period of 1991 to 1993?(A) Surjith singh Barnala (B) Bishma Narayan Singh(C) Fathima Beevi (D) Rangarajan

11. “Horn Not ok” Compaign launched in which state?(A) Uttarkhand (B) Himachal Pradesh (C) Jharkhand(D) Uttarpradesh

12. How much vote percentage did mnangawa won the Presidential Election in Zimbavae? (A) 50.2% (B) 50.3% (C) 50.4% (D) 50.8%

13. Which country scientists have created the world’s first single-chromosome yeast?(A) India (B) Russia (C) America (D) China

14. Which State is going to rename its new capital as Atal Nagar?(A) Madhya Pradesh (B) Jharkhand(C) Chhattisgarh (D) Uttar Pradesh

15. Who has been elected as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman?(A) Harivansh Narayan Singh (B) P.J.Kurian (C) S.V.Krishnamoorthy Rao (D) Ram Nivash Mirtha

16. “World Lion Day” is observed on which date(A) Aug 8 (B) Aug 9 (C) Aug 10 (D) Aug 11

17. Who has been the Flag-bearen for Asian games ceremony?(A) Neeraj Chopra (B) Rajesh Shri (C) Devendra Sing kong (D) Narendra Rampeer

18. Nobel prize winning author. V.S.Naipaul passes way. He had won Nobel price in which year?(A) 2000 (B) 2001(C) 2002 (D) 2003

19. Recently passes away speaker Somnath Chatterjee belongs to which state?(A) Jharkhand (B) West Bengal (C) Bihar (D) Assam

20. Recently passed Somnath Chatterjee was the speaker of the Lok Sabha from ____ to _____(A) 2003 to 2009 (B) 2004 to 2009(C) 2005 to 2009 (D) 2006 to 2009

21. Second e-Governance Award has been given to in which of the following Department?(A) Agricultural Department(B) Food & Health Department(C) Micro small & medium Enterprises(D) Department of Information &

Technology

22. Which of the following state celebrates Niraputhhari festival?(A) Tamil Nadu (B) Telungana (C) Karnataka (D) Kerala

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



23. PM Modi recited that when will the Ayushman Bharat scheme to be launched?(A) Sep 17 (B) Sep 20 (C) Sep 22 (D) Sep 25

24. Which Country to host Asia Cup 2018?(A) Egypt (B) Dubai (C) UAE (D) Yemen

25. Headed by whom the 3rd space mission has been created?(A) Abey Kumar (B) Suthir Kumar (C) Somnath (D) Shasagiri Raali

26. Which State Ranks first in Selva Magal Semippu Thittam?(A) Uttarkhand (B) Uttar Pradesh(C) Telangana (D) Tamil Nadu

27. Bejrang Punia won first gold at Asian games belongs to which state?(A) Shooting (B) Swimming (C) Wrestling (D) Badminton

28. Benjrang Punia won First Gold at Asian Games belongs to which State?(A) Delhi (B) Uttar Pradesh(C) Gujarat (D) Haryana

29. Asian Game winners Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar won bronze in which part of Air Rifle?(A) 10 (B) 25 (C) 50 (D) 100

30. Who won gold in Asian games 2018?(A) Shakshi Malik (B) Geetha Bhogat (C) Peppitha (D) Vinesh Phogat

31. Who won Silver medal in shooting at 2018 Asian games?(A) Vijay Kumar & Abhinav Bindhara(B) Vijay Kumar & Deepak Kumar(C) Deepak Kumar & Lakshay Sheraan(D) Lakshay Sheraan & Abhinav Bindhara

32. The first Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award gave in which year?(A) 1993 (B) 1994(C) 1995 (D) 1996

33. Who won bronze in wrestling at Asian Games 2010?(A) Divya Kakran (B) Subshi Maalile(C) Maruthi Maney (D) Geetha Bhogat

34. P.V.Sindhu got which place by earning in would level?(A) 4 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 7

35. Indian Rowers won which type of medal in Meris Quadruple sults at Asian games 2018?(A) Silver (B) Bronze (C) Gold (D) None of the above

36. India’s first Javelin gold medal at Asian games won by Neeraj chopra belongs to which state?(A) Uttarkhand (B) Uttara Pradesh(C) Himachal Pradesh (D) Haryana

37. Dharun Ayyasamy won the silver in men’s hurdle by which category?(A) 100m (B) 200m (C) 400m (D) 1000m

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



38. Who won gold in race (800m) at Asian games 2018?(A) Sri Ram Singh (B) Manjith Singh(C) Muhammed Anar (D) Jinson Jhonson

39. Who has been appointed as the Chairman of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?(A) Ramesh Atharaval (B) S.S.Aluvalia(C) Aahish Kumar (D) Ansh Raj

40. Which type of medal won by P.V. Sindhu at Asian games in Badminton(A) Gold (B) Silver(C) Bronze (D) None of the above

41. Which of the following is the only state in India that has an NRC (National Register of Citizens)?(A) Punjab (B) Bihar (C) Assam (D) West Bengal

42. Golden Bridge supported by hand shaped concrete was recently opened in(A) China (B) Japan (C) Vietnam (D) Italy

43. President Ram Nath Kovind granted ‘Outstanding Parliamentarian’award for the year 2017 to(A) Najma A. Heptulla(B) Dinesh Trivedi (C) Ghulam Nabi Azad(D) BhartruhariMahatab

44. Which country launches amnesty programme to aid foreign visa violators?(A) Pakistan (B) Indonesia (C) Albania (D) UAE

45. Geographical indigation Logo and Tagline has been launched by whom ?(A) Suresh Prabhu (B) Suresh babu(C) Vijay Bhaskar (D) Venkat Raman

46. How many students won Silver in Global School debate contest ? (A) 7 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 4

47. Which of the following drugs is to be banned in India for its misuse in the dairy sector?(A) Phenacetin (B) Nialamide (C) Methapyriline (D) Oxytocin

48. Who is the present chairman of DRDO ?(A) Sanjay Mitra (B) SureshIyer(C) Nareshsingh (D) Dinesh Karthick

49. Who took second spot in the List of India’s 28 Fugitive Economic Offenders?(A) ChetanSandesara (B) Nirav Modi (C) VijayMallya (D) MehulChoksi

50. Who is the first women appointed as the Chief Justice of J&K High Court? (A) B.D.Ahmed (B) Gita Mittal(C) Rajendra Menon (D) C.HariShanka

51. Which state launches ShaurNahin mobile application ?(A) Himachal Pradesh (B) Madhyapradesh(C) Tamil Nadu (D) Kerala

52. Which state retained the first position in the State Investment Potential Index?(A) Kerala (B) Delhi (C) Andhra Pradesh (D) Punjab

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



53. Who topped ICC Rankings for Test Batsmen?(A) RahulDravid(B) Viratkohli(C) Ravichandran Ashwin (D) Virendra Sehwag

54. What is the scheme launched by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for a girl child recently?(A) BetiBachaoBetiPadhao (B) SukanyaSamriddhi Yojana(C) MukhyamantriKanya Utthan Yojana(D) Balika Samridhi Yojna

55. Which state inaugurated world’s first thermal batterey industry?(A) Kerala (B) Tamil Nadu(C) Andra Pradesh (D) Telangana

56. What was the name of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the US Air Force on August 6, 1945?(A) Fat Man (B)Fat Boy (C) Little Boy (D) Little Man

57. World’s largest bird sculpture, Jatayu sculpture, will be inaugurated in(A) Kerala (B) Gujarat (C) Assam (D) Andhra Pradesh

58. Goa becomes first state by starting its own app based taxi service called(A) Goa Quick Go (B) GoaTrack(C) GoaMiles (D) GoaTrip

59. India climb up to in which place in latest Hockey rankings ?(A) 5 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 7

60. Who is appointed as part time Directors on RBI Board (A) Gurumurthy , Ramesh Kumar(B) SatishMarathe , Ragunathan(C) S Gurumurthy, Satish Marathe(D) Karthik Ravichandran, Vinoth Kumar

61. Recently, Indian Government extended e-visa facility for citizens of how many countries(A) 150 countries (B) 165 countries (C) 160 countries (D) 155 countries

62. What type of galaxy did the astronomers discover lately using the Indian Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)?(A) Elliptical Galaxy (B) Spiral Galaxy (C) Irregular Galaxy (D) Radio Galaxy

63. Which year VidiadharSurajprasad Naipaul was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature ?(A) 2001 (B) 2010 (C) 2015 (D) 2015

64. Who is the new Chief Justice of Madras High Court?(A) Justice Indira Banerjee(B) Justice Menon (C) JusticeS.Ravindra Bhat(D) JusticeTahilramani

65. Who topped BBC ‘s ‘Women Who Changed The World’ List ?(A) Marie Curie (B) Ada Lovelace (C) Emmeline Pankhurst (D) Mother Teresa

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



66. Which city ranked first in ‘Ease of Living Index 2018’,?(A) Greater Mumbai (B) New Delhi (C) Pune (D) Tirupati

67. Which of the following is a micro-algae that lives in the Coral reefs?(A) Xanthophyta(B) Lyngbya majuscule(C) Golden-brown algae(D) Zooxanthellae

68. Which bank ranked as India’s Most Patriotic Brand ?(A) Dena Bank(B) Canara Bank(C) State Bank of India(D) Federal Bank

69. Which of the following city has named World’s most liveable city for 2018?(A) Osaka (B) Melbourne (C) Vienna (D) Vankore

70. PM Vajpayee poetry collections were compiled in which book ?(A) MeriEkyaavanKavitayein(B) Unforgettable Tales (C) Madhushala (D) RashMirathi

71. Recently Swadesh Darshan Scheme was inaugurated in which city?(A) Maharashtra (B) Uttar Pradesh(C) Tiripura (D) Manipur

72. India to launch Manned Space Mission in which year ?(A) 2021 (B) 2022 (C) 2032 (D) 2033

73. Which commission was introduced the term “ Creamy layer “ ?(A) Mandal – 1979(B) Khosla- 1970 (C) Sattanathan – 1971 (D) Sakaria- 1983

74. With which hospital did Microsoft join to introduce an AI-powered Cardiovascular Disease risk? (A) JIPMER (B) AIIMS (C) Apollo Hospitals (D) Fortis Hospital

75. Who discovered Helium on earth?(A) Jules Janssen (B) Norman Lockyer(C) PerTeodor Cleve (D) William Ramsay

76. Which country has decided to take big step for celebrate Durga Puja ?(A) India (B) Japan (C) China (D) Canada

77. What is the name of the campaign against

sexual abuse of children launched?(A) Our Safety, Our Rights(B) Safety is the peace of measure (C) Our Rights is the main reason for the

thing(D) Rights - Our Loyalty

78. Who has been named as the ‘Best Sportsperson of India’ by Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club?(A) Ankit Mondal (B) SuprajitRakshit(C) Koustav Chatterjee(D) Sunil Chhetri

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



79. Which country hosts the 18th Asian Games 2018?(A) India (B) Indonesia (C) China (D) UAE

80. Which state police organizes workshop to prevent cybercrime threats on real-time basis?(A) Punjab (B) Tamil Nadu (C) Kerala (D) Andhra Pradesh

81. With which country did Indian Air Force drop its fifth-generation aircraft programme?(A) US (B) China (C) UK (D) Russia

82. Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is a ________ Indian fighter jet under construction.(A) third-generation (B) fourth-generation (C) fifth-generation(D) sixth-generation

83. World Humanitarian Day is observed on ---------------?(A) 15th August (B) 14th August (C) 16th August (D) 19th August

84. Advancement in eye exam technology could help doctors to diagnose people with __________ disease long before symptoms appear.(A) Heartattact (B) Alzheimer (C) Amnesia (D) Neuro disorder

85. Who won India’s first Asian Games medal in the 100m event after 20 years?(A) Tintu Luka (B) P. U. Chitra (C) Dutee Chand (D) Hima Das

86. Who is appointed as New Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman?(A) G. Satheesh Reddy (B) Sureshkumar (C) Nareshyadav(D) Dilip Kumar

87. Where will be the BIMSTEC Summit 2018 held?(A) Dhaka (B) Kabul (C) Kathmandu (D)Delhi

88. Deepak Kumar, who handed India’s third medal at the ongoing 2018 Asian Games, is associated with(A) Shooting (B) Archery (C) Wrestling (D) Weightlifting

89. Who bagged India’s 1st shooting Gold medal at Asia 2018?(A) LakshaySheoran(B) Deepak Kumar(C) Saurabh Chaudhary (D) Abhishek Verma

90. Iran recently unveiled its first domestically built fighter jet named ? (A) Saeqeh (B) Sukhoi (C) Kowsar (D) Qaher

91. Which state recited that the Sacrilege Of All Religious Texts To Be Punishable? (A) Manipur (B) Telangana (C) Andra Pradesh (D) Punjab

92. Which International Airport declared as fastest growing airports in world?(A) Kempegowda (B) Haneda (C) Indira Gandhi (D) Kochin

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



93. Which government has abolished the validity of the madarsa?(A) Uttar Pradesh (B) Punjab(C) Gujarat (D) Uttarkhand

94. Who has been declared as 7th earning Female Athlete?(A) SainaNewal (B) Thanyanayar (C) P.V.Sindhu (D) P.C.Thulasi

95. What is the name of the European wind survey satellite launched from French Guiana?(A) Aeolus (B) Planck (C) GIOVE (D) Swaram

96. Who has been appointed as a head of the three member committee in National Green Tribunal ?(A) D.K.Vasifdar (B) S.K.Vasifdar(C) S.J.Vasifdar (D) S.I.Vasifdar

97. Which state Will be the hub of east with port -led manufacturing?(A) Maharashtra (B) Punjab(C) Gujarat (D) Odisha

98. Adithyaa Anand makes the Rupik’s cube look easy by using his feet .He belongs to which college?(A) IIT (B) MIT(C) IIM (D) NIT

99. Who wins Bronze in Women’s 10m Air Pistol event In Shooting ?(A) Heena Sidhu (B) Manu Bhaker(C) Jitu Rai (D) RahiSarnobat

100. Indian Students win Startup Award in which country ?

(A) Sri Lanka (B) Singapore (C) Pakistan (D) China

101. Who became the first Indian javelin-thrower to win an Asian Games gold medal?

(A) SeemaPoonia (B) Shivpal Singh(C) Neeraj Chopra (D) Annu Rani

102. India’s first Biofuel-Powered Flight Lands in--------?

(A) New Delhi (B) Chennai (C) Hyderabad (D) Mumbai

103. Who has been appointed as the New Managing Director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board?

(A) RajeshLakhoni (B) G.Prakash(C) Ashok Dongre (D) AshokDongley

104. Which Indian economist has been appointed as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)?

(A) Satya S Tripathi (B) ArvindPanagariya(C) KaushikBasu (D) Jayati Ghosh

105. Who won silver in Kurash at Asian games?

(A) Malaprabha Jadhav(B) PinckyBalhara(C) GulnorSulaymanova(D) Pencaksilat

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



106. What is the meaning of the word Navlekhā is derived from Sanskrit ?

(A) An Easy way to access online (B) A Perfect way to publish(C) A Fast way to digitise(D) A New way to write

107. Which country recently Found a ancient bone belonged to a child of two extinct human species?

(A) United States (B) United Kingdom(C) Germany (D) India

108. International Water Colour Festival is held in which city ?

(A) Bhubaneswar (B) Kolkata(C) Lucknow (D) Ranchi

109. Who won Bronze medal at 2018 Asian Games ?

(A) Sawarn Singh (B) Suresh Kumar (C) Dushyant (D) Dinesh Kumar

110. Which pair won Gold medal in Tennis mixed doubles at the Asian Games 2018

(A) Bopanna-Sharan(B) SaniaMirsa- LeandersPaes(C) SaniaMirsa- Sharan(D) Bopanna – LeandersPaes

111. Match the Following :A) National Backward Class Commission

– 1. Justice A Eshwarya B) National Scheduled Castes

Commission - 2. Justice Nandha Kumar

C) National Tribes Commission - 3. Justice Ram Shankar Katriya (a) (b) (c) (A) 1 3 2(B) 1 2 3(C) 3 2 1(D) 2 3 1

112. Which state government has launched a rural cleanliness and sanitation campaign “Swachhameva Jayate”?

(A) Bihar (B) Andra Pradesh (C) Uttra Pradesh (D) Karnataka

113. In which of the following three states , the most suffering peoples by AIDS ?

(A) Meghalaya, Misorum, Tripura(B) Nagaland, Misorum, Tripura (C) Assam, Tripura, Manipur(D) Misorum, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

August -2018



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10A B C B A A B A B B11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20B D D C A C A B B B21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30B D D C C D C D A D31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40C A A D C D C B C B41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50C C B D A B D A C B51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60A B B C C C A C A C61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70B D A D A C D C C A71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80D B C C D C A D B A81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90D C D B C S C A C C91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100D B A C A C D B A B

101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110C A C A B D C D C A

111 112 113C D A

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Documents

My Dear Aspirants, · 2018-10-24 · My Dear Aspirants, Greetings to all of you! “What we think we become” Gautama Buddha. We all have dreams. To make dreams come into reality