Daily Current affairs - August 31st, 2017 for all competitive exams
In a first ever exercise after Independence, the Ministry of Defence in
consultation with the Indian Army has decided to reform the Indian Army in a
planned manner. These decisions were approved by the Defence Minister Shri Arun
Jaitley after an extensive consultation with all stakeholders.
- The purpose of reforms is to enhance combat
capability and also optimize and rebalance defence expenditure of Indian
Army.
President of India to visit
Andhra Pradesh on September 1 to 2, 2017
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will visit Andhra Pradesh on
September 1 and 2, 2017.
- On September 1, 2017, the President will inaugurate
the new hospital building of the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical
Sciences (SVIMS) – Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women. On the same
day, he will also attend a civic reception and public meeting at Sri
Venkateswara Arts College Ground, Tirupati.
Navodaya Vidyalayas to go
Solar
Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Prakash Javadekar today
directed the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) to take measure for adoption of
solar energy in all Navodaya Vidyalayas.
- This decision has taken in 35th Meeting of
Executive Committee of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti in New Delhi
Aadhaar can be linked to
schemes by December 31
The Centre informed the
Supreme Court that the deadline for linking Aadhaar to access various social
welfare schemes and benefits had been extended from Sept- ember 30 to December
31.
- December 31 is also the deadline announced by the
government for linking bank accounts with Aadhaar.
All Parliamentary secretaries
in Mizoram resign
All the seven parliamentary
secretaries in Mizoram submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Lal
Thanhawla and he accepted them.
- The mass resignation came in the wake of the Supreme
Court’s July 26 ruling on the The Assam Parliamentary Secretaries
(Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act,
2004. It declared that the appointment
of parliamentary secretaries in Assam was unconstitutional.
China forced to abandon plan to enlarge BRICS in face of
resistance from India, others
China has aborted its attempt to create a permanent BRICS Plus feature and
invite other countries to join in following resistance from the other members
of the five-nation grouping, including India, who apprehend dilution of BRICS’s
goals if other counties, including Beijing’s close allies, are brought in.
- China has been campaigning for the creation of a
permanent BRICS Plus arrangement to enable non-BRICS countries to play an
active role. BRICS had started off with four members and Beijing was
instrumental in bringing in South Africa at a later stage. Critics say
China wants to expand the BRICS mechanism as a means to garner wider
influence for itself.
- BRICS is the acronym for an association of five
major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa.
- Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at
formal summits. China will host the 9th BRICS summit in Xiamen in
September 2017.
ISRO to launch new navigation satellite IRNSS-1H
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch a new
navigation satellite on August 31. IRNSS-1H will replace IRNSS-1A which failed
due to deficiencies in three atomic clocks that are crucial in providing
positional information to users on earth.
- IRNSS-1H will be launched on board ISRO’s PSLV-C39 The new satellite will expand the existing seven
satellites of NavIC constellation.
- A satellite navigation is based on a network of
satellites that transmit radio signals to determine the geospatial
location of the receivers with high accuracy.
- The satellite systems can be used for providing
position, navigation or for tracking the position of something fitted with
a receiver.
Joint Proposal by India &
China in WTO on Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS)
India and China jointly submitted a proposal to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) calling for the elimination - by developed countries - of
the most trade-distorting form of farm subsidies, known in WTO parlance as
Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) or ‘Amber Box’ support as a
prerequisite for consideration of other reforms in domestic support
negotiations.
- This is an important proposal by India and China in
view of the ongoing negotiations for the upcoming 11thMinisterial Conference of the WTO to be held in
Buenos Aires in December 2017.
- It counters the efforts by some countries to target
the subsidies of the developing countries while letting the developed
countries retain their huge farm subsidies.
U.S. conducts missile test off
Hawaii
The U.S. military shot down
a medium-range ballistic missile target off the coast of Hawaii, in a
successful test of a missile interception system Japan is seeking to bolster
its defence.
- Using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, the test
intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile launched from the Pacific
Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii by using the USS John Paul Jones’s
onboard AN/SPY-1 radar.
- This marks the second time that an SM-6 has
successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target.
U.S. approves first gene
therapy for cancer
The United States approved
the first gene therapy in the nation— a treatment that uses a patient’s own
immune cells to fight childhood leukaemia.
The treatment is made by
Novartis and is called Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel).
- This type of immunotherapy, known as a CAR-T cell
therapy, was known by the term CTL019 until now.
- It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for children and young adult patients up to age 25 with a
form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
99% of demonetised notes
returned, says RBI report
The Reserve Bank of India’s
annual report has finally revealed that as much as Rs. 15.28 lakh crore of the
high-value currency that was demonetised in November returned to the central
bank.
- The latest RBI data showed that 98.96% of the
withdrawn currency — at the time of demonetisation the value of old Rs.
500 and Rs. 1,000 notes in circulation was Rs. 15.44 lakh crore — was
deposited with the banks. Separately, the data showed that the share of
newly introduced Rs. 2,000 banknotes in the total value of currency in
circulation was 50.2% at end-March 2017.
Switzerland President on 3-day
visit
In a boost to bilateral
ties, Swiss President Doris Leuthard began a three-day visit to India. The
visit is significant as Switzerland is the chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
where India has been seeking membership.
List of MoUs/Agreements:
1. MoU between Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.
2. MoU between Ministry of Railways, India and Federal
Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the
Swiss Federation on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector.
Shri Rajiv Gauba takes over as
Union Home Secretary
Shri Rajiv Gauba, IAS (Jharkhand cadre-1982 batch) today took over as
Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Shri Gauba joined the Ministry of Home Affairs as
Officer on Special Duty on June 27, 2017 and took charge as the Union Home
Secretary upon the superannuation of Shri Rajiv Mehrishi.
Raghavan is envoy to Cyprus
Former CBI Director R.K.
Raghavan has been appointed High Commissioner to Cyprus.
- He had been CBI Director from January 1999 to April
2001. The Supreme Court appointed him head of the Anti-Ragging Monitoring
Committee in 2006. In 2008, the court made him head the SIT on Godhra
riots.
Bangladesh to a historic win
over Australia
Bangladesh won a first Test
victory over Australia, with Shakib Al Hasan’s second five-wicket haul of the
match securing a memorable 20-run win inside four days at the Sher-e-Bangla
National Stadium.
- Australia will slip one place to fifth in the Test rankings.
