Current Affairs Update - 19 August 2016

Updated on : 10:47, 30 August 2016

— NATIONAL —

– Centre launches web portal for star rating of mines

• With the aim to promote sustainable mining, the Centre on Thursday launched an online portal for star rating of mines.
• The Ministry of Mines through the Indian Bureau of Mines developed a template for star rating of mines. The main objective of this system is to bring all mines to a minimum standard of star rating as soon as possible to adopt sustainable practices.
• At the launch of the portal, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Mines, Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal said the scheme would be a vital step for ensuring compliance of environmental protection and social responsibility by the mining sector.
• The Minister has given a December 31 deadline for the rating of all mines.

– Tendulkar adopts village in Osmanabad under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna

• Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has selected Donja village in Osmanabad district for development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.
• Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, launched in October 2014, is a rural development programme focusing on development of villages which include social and cultural development, and spread motivation among the people on social mobilisation of the village community.
• Osmanabad has been reeling under a serve drought over the last few years and has also recorded a steep rise in incidents of farmers’ suicide.
• Donja is a village in Paranda of Osmanabad. As per 2011 census 582 families residing there. It has a population of 2,863 of which 1,508 are males while 1,355 are females.

 

— INTERNATIONAL —

– Typhoon Dianmu hits southern China

• In China, typhoon Dianmu landed in south Guangdong Province yesterday afternoon, bringing torrential rain to much of the region.
• The typhoon storm is now rolling through the Beibu Gulf along the southern shores of Guangxi after making landfall last night in southwestern Guangdong.
• While it never reached typhoon status, Dianmu was strong enough to force officials to relocate people living in certain part of the city of Zhanjiang on the southern end of the Leizhou Peninsula.
• Guangdong’s flood control center says that so far there have been no reports of casualties. Dianmu is expected to roll into northern Vietnam later today on a path toward the capital, Hanoi.

– China set to open world’s highest and longest glass bridge

• The world’s longest & highest glass bottom bridge is set to open soon in China.
• It connects two mountain cliffs known as the Avatar mountains in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.
• The bridge is designed by architect Haim Dotan & is 430 metres long, six metres wide and nearly 300 metres above the bottom of the canyon.
• The bridge will be able to hold up to 800 people at a time.

 

— BANKING —

– ICICI Bank unveils new ‘smart keys’ mobile app

• To make mobile payments easier, ICICI Bank has launched a payment service using a smartphone keyboard named ‘iMobile SmartKeys’.
• Users will be able to make quick and secure payments on any mobile application, including chat, messenger, email, games or search browser, without having to exit their current application on their smartphone.
• This reduces the time taken by customers having to switch tabs or applications within their smartphone to access the bank’s application ‘iMobile’.
• This solution was developed by one of the winners of the bank’s app developing competition.

– India Post Payments Bank set for 2017 start

• India Post Payments Bank has received the certificate of incorporation from the Registrar of Companies, paving the way for the postal department’s bank to begin operations in 2017 as announced.
• This will be the first public sector undertaking under the Department of Posts.
• The incorporation also paves the way for the constitution of the Board of the India Post Payments Bank Limited.

– Federal Bank, MMTC tie up for distribution of Indian gold coins

• Kerala-based private sector lender Federal Bank has announced its tie-up with MMTC for distribution of Indian Gold Coins (IGC).
• Federal Bank has become the first private sector bank to start distributing gold coins made by government-controlled Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India (MMTCI).
• The Indian gold coins are of 24 karat purity, 999 fineness and has the National Emblem of Ashok Chakra engraved on one side and the face of Mahatma Gandhi as in currency notes on the other.

– SBI approves merger with associates

• The board of country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has approved share swap ratio to merge 5 associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself.
• In the swap ratio an acquiring company will offer its own shares in exchange for the target company’s shares during a merger or acquisition.
• The merger will add to the strength of SBI – which, at assets of about Rs 23 lakh crore, is roughly 1/4 of the Indian banking system.
• The SBI board gave approval for scheme of acquisition for 5 associate banks and BMB, SBI informed stock exchanges.

 

— BUSINESS AND ECONOMY —

– India inks deal to route petroleum products through Bangladesh

• India signed a short-term route agreement with Bangladesh to allow transport of petroleum goods from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh after heavy monsoon damaged roads and made the transportation between the two states difficult.
• This is a short-term deal and Bangladesh side agreed to the Indian proposal to grant validity of the MoU till September 30, officials in Dhaka said.
• Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) & the Roads and Highways Department of the Government of Bangladesh (RHD) signed the deal.

 

— AWARDS AND HONOURS —

– U.P. to confer Rani Laxmi Bai award on Sakshi Malik

• The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced to honour Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik who won a bronze at the Rio Olympic Games with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Award.
• Ms. Malik (23), who hails from Rohtak in Haryana, became only the fourth woman athlete from India to win an Olympic medal after she clinched a bronze in the 58-kg category.
• Congratulating her, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said she had made the nation proud, as he decided to honour her with the Rani Laxmi Bai Award, meant to signify bravery and outstanding achievement of women.
• The award carries a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. The Samajwadi Party government is deeply involved in the promotion of sports and has constantly provided various kinds of facilities to sportspersons, Mr. Yadav said, at a Raksha Bandhan function at his official residence here.

– Hindi author Sunita Jain conferred Vyas Samman award

• Hindi scholar and writer Sunita Jain was today awarded the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman 2015 for her poetry collection “Kshama”.
• West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi conferred the award on the scholar.
• The award instituted by the K K Birla Foundation carries a cash prize of Rs 2.50 lakh. It is given annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen.
• Tripathi commended the author for portraying through poetry the fine emotions between poet Tulsidas and his wife Ratnavalli.

 

— SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY —

– MEA launches app integrating various social media handles

• Expanding its digital presence, the External Affairs Ministry today launched an app, bringing websites and various social media handles of over 170 Indian missions on a common platform to further its public outreach.
• The app, developed in cooperation with social media giant Facebook, will help people connect with Indian missions abroad and the Ministry of External Affairs through a range of social media platforms without having to access individual websites.

 

— SPORTS —

– Sindhu goes down fighting in Rio final, wins historic silver

• P V Sindhu’s gallant attempt to win a coveted gold medal for India ended in heart-break when she went down fighting against Spain’s Carolina Marin and settled for a silver in the women’s singles badminton competition
• The 21-year-old Indian crumbled under the relentless pressure created by Marin to lose 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in a pulsating final that lasted for an hour and 23 minutes at the Riocentre here.
• Sindhu thus became the fourth Indian to win a silver at the Olympics after shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004, Athens) and Vijay Kumar (2012, London) and wrestler Sushil Kumar (2012, London).
• The two-time World championship bronze medallist also became the fifth woman player from India to win a medal in Olympics and the first to clinch a silver.
• Weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari (2000, Sydney), boxer MC Mary Kom (2012, London), shuttler Saina Nehwal (2012, London) and wrestler Sakshi Malik (Rio, 2016) are the other women players from India to have won a medal in Olympics.

– Ashwin Retain Second Spot in ICC Ranking

• India’s offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin has retained his second position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test bowlers’ rankings.
• The bowlers’ list is headed by England’s James Anderson, who leads Ashwin by 12 points with 870 points.
• Dale Steyn is third,17 points behind the India off-spinner.
• Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has returned among the top five of the Test bowlers.

– Rio Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt wins 200m gold, his eighth Olympic gold

• Usain Bolt won the men’s 200m to claim his second Rio 2016 gold, his eighth at an Olympics, and keep alive his hopes of an unprecedented ‘treble treble’.
• The Jamaican ran 19.78 seconds to come home ahead of Canada’s Andre de Grasse and France’s Christophe Lemaitre.
• Britain’s Adam Gemili clocked the same time as Lemaitre, but was denied his first Olympic medal in a photo finish.
• Bolt, 29, has already won the 100m in Rio and will run in the 4x100m relay final

– Sakshi Malik to receive rewards worth Rs 3.5 crore

• A windfall of cash rewards and incentives, amounting to at least Rs.3.5 crore awaits woman wrestler Sakshi Malik who clinched a historic bronze medal for India in the Rio Olympics on Thursday.
• Sportspersons, politicians and actors took to twitter to convey their good wishes and greeings to Sakshi Malik for her achievement.
• Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was among those earlier to wish her.
• Meanwhile, Haryana government on Thrusday announced a reward of Rs. 2.50 crore and a job to wrestler Sakshi Malik who hails from the state.
• Sakshi is also entitled to 20 lakh rupees earmarked for an Olympic bronze medallist under the Sports Ministry’s Special Awards Scheme.

– Court of Arbitration for Sport suspends wrestler Narsingh Yadav for four years

• The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), situated in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 18 August 2016 banned wrestler Narsingh Yadav for four years following an appeal by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
• The CAS also ruled to disqualify all the competitive results obtained by Narsingh from 25 June 2016. The CAS panel further stated that there was no evidence to accept his claim that his food/drink was spiked.
• Yadav, whose suspension begins immediately, will not be able to participate at the Rio 2016 Olympics. He was scheduled to commence his campaign on 19 August 2016 against Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France in the 74 category.

 

— OBITUARY —

– Actor-director Gobind Tej passes away

• Noted actor and director Gobind Tej passed away on Thursday morning while undergoing treatment at a private hospital here.
• He received the Odisha State Film Award for Best Director for movies like ‘Kaberi’, ‘School Master’, ‘Tunda Baida’ and ‘Gare Sindura Dhare Luha.’
• In 1977, he received the Odisha State Film Award for Best Actor for his remarkable acting in the movie ‘Bandhu Mohanty’.
• Tej was also conferred the ‘Jaydev Award’, the highest cine award in the state, in 1986 for his lifelong contribution to the growth and development of Odia cinema.