Daily Current affairs - August 27th, 2017 for all competitive exams
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected districts of Bihar and announced a
package of Rs. 500 crore as immediate relief to the state.
- He also declared that Rs. 2 lakh each would be given
to the kin of those who have died in the floods.
State-level fee rules for CBSE
schools
According to the CBSE
chairman R.K. Chaturvedi, Fees charged by schools affiliated to the Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) should be as per the norms fixed by the
State government.
- Mr. Chaturvedi’s statement comes even as CBSE
schools have moved the Gujarat High Court against the State government’s
decision to regulate fees of all private schools, including the
CBSE-affiliated institutions.
Trump signs memo on military
transgender ban
U.S President Donald Trump
has signed a memo ordering the Pentagon to ban an Obama-era plan of recruiting
transgender individuals in the military.
- In a memorandum, Mr. Trump directed the Secretary of
Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the U.S. Coast
Guard, to return to the long-standing practice on military service by
transgender individuals that was in place prior to June 2016.
New antibody fights cancer in
dogs
Scientists have developed an
antibody that significantly suppresses malignant tumours in dogs.
- Researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan
developed c4G12, a “chimeric anti-PD-L1 antibody”, that induces immune
responses and therefore tumour regression in dogs with malignant cancers.
- A pilot clinical study was performed on seven dogs
with oral malignant melanoma. One of the dogs showed obvious tumour
regression after 10 weeks of administration.
- The study published in the journal Scientific
Reports .
Banks to Pay 3% IGST on Gold
Imports
Banks importing gold
and precious metals will have to pay 3 per cent tax under the
GST which can be claimed as input tax credit.
- Under GST 3% Integrated-GST is payable on all
imports of precious metals in addition to the basic customs duty. IGST
paid can be taken as input tax credit by the banks.
India, Qatar discuss citizens’
welfare
India discussed with Qatar
the welfare of its citizens in the wake of its lingering disputes with Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain.
- In wide-ranging talks between External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the two sides also discussed ways to deepen
co-operation in energy, trade and investment.
- In June, the four nations had announced cutting
diplomatic ties and closing all connectivity links with Qatar, alleging
that it supported terrorism. Qatar had rejected the charges.
HDFC Bank Launches All-in-one
PoS Machine
HDFC Bank announced a
software upgrade to create a single point-of-sale (PoS) machine which
will accept payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), BharatQR, SMS
Pay and the bank’s mobile wallet, in addition to the traditional mode of
swiping cards.
- The merchant has to do is to update his/her machine
with a software at no cost. The new software will work only on HDFC
Bank-issued PoS machines, but will accept any card or app from
any bank/service provider.
A new score in waste
management
- Scientists from CSIR’s National Institute for
Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram
have been able to turn waste into wealth.
- They have produced ethanol from discarded
cotton-stalks by using a combination of chemical and biological
techniques.
- India has about 9.4 million hectares under cotton
cultivation and every hectare generates 2 million tonnes of cotton stalk
wastes.
- The results were published in Bioresource Technology.
Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific
Excellence
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik granted the Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence for
the year 2016 to Prof Digambar Behera.
- Digambar Behera is senior professor and Head,
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical
Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh. The award is given
by Odisha Bigyan Academy(OBA).
Dharmendra Kumar Appointed
Director General of RPF
CISF ADG Dharmendra Kumar
has been appointed as Director General of the Railway Protection Force.
Kumar, who is a 1984 batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union
Territories (AGMUT) cadre, took charge.
- After the retirement of S K Bhagat in June 2017, the
additional charge of DG, RPF, was being handled by National Security
Guard (NSG) DG, Sudhir Pratap Singh. Kumar will retire on September 30,
2018.
Bronze for Saina
Saina Nehwal settled for the
bronze as her impressive run at the World badminton championships after loss to
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s
semifinals.
- Earlier, Saina had made the semifinals, staving off
the challenge from local favourite Kristy Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in
an hour and 14 minutes.
Messi Becomes First Ever
Player to Score 350 La Liga Goals
Barcelona forward Lionel
Messi scored a second-half brace against Alaves, becoming the first
ever player to score 350 goals in La Liga.
- Messi's best goal tally for a season came in 2011/12 when he netted 50 goals in 37 appearances. Messi, who has played 384 league matches, is now 66 goals ahead of rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
