Important Current Affairs 24th August 2018

Important Current Affairs 24th August 2018

SPORTS

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan notched up their maiden men's doubles gold medal

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan notched up their maiden men's doubles gold medal at the Asian Games. Bopanna and 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.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes remain the most successful Indian men's doubles pair in the Asian Games history, having claimed back-to-back gold medals in the 2002 and 2006 Games.

In 2014, Saketh Myneni and Sanam had ended with a silver medal.

Virat Kohli regains top spot in ICC Test Rankings
 

India captain Virat Kohli reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings after his brilliant show in the third Test against England.
Kohli scored 97 and 103 in the third Test at Nottingham, which India won by 203 runs.
Kohli now has 937 points, which is the 11th best ever in terms of rating points. 

Indian rower Dushyant bags Bronze medal: Asian Games

Indian rower Dushyant today bagged a Bronze medal in the Men's Lightweight Single Sculls category, Dushyant finished third to give India a Bronze medal at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia. 

Important:

This is also the first medal for the country in rowing at the Games. Previously Dushyant won international medals for India were silver and a bronze in Italian Regatta Championships in 2014.

Hockey India announces U18 men's & women's teams for Youth Olympic Games
 

Hockey India announced the Indian Under-18 men's and women's teams for the Hockey 5's competition to be held at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games from 6th to 18th October. 

The men's team will be led by midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad, and the captaincy of the women's team has been given to defender Salima Tete.

Youth Olympic Games

The 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, is a forthcoming international sports, cultural, and educational festival for teenagers that will be hosted in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

NATIONAL NEWS

VVPAT Machines Ready to use during forthcoming polls

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has said that Election Commission is ready for hundred per cent use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines (VVPAT). 
Election Commission has ordered 17.5 lakh VVPAT machines and received 10 lakh out of them by now. 

VVPAT

A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allowvoters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.

Important:

General elections are due to be held in India in April or May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. Assembly elections of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Telangana will be tentatively held simultaneously with this general election.

Five thematic reports on Indian Himalayan Region
 

NITI Aayog has released five thematic reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region. It was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and member Dr V K Saraswat in New Delhi. 

The themes include Inventory and Revival of Springs in Himalayas for Water Security, Sustainable Tourism, Transformative Approach to Shifting Cultivation, Strengthening Skill and Entrepreneurship Landscape in Himalayas. Listing challenges in all five thematic areas, the reports said, nearly 30 per cent of springs crucial to water security of people are drying and 50 per cent have reported reduced discharge. 

What this Report Says:

Reports said, Himalayan Tourism which is growing annually at 6.8 per cent has crated huge challenge related to solid waste, water, traffic, loss of bio-cultural diversity. According to an official release, the call for action includes setting up of a Himalayan Authority for coordinated and holistic development of entire Himalayan region and launching of Himalaya Calling: An Awareness to Action Campaign as people’s movement.

AJ Paulraj submits its 5G steering committee Report
 

The steering committee headed by Stanford University professor A.J. Paulraj submitted the report, making India 5G ready, to telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan.

The report suggested the government should announce its 5G policy by the end of December, besides setting up a standing committee to advise on building the infrastructure for spectrum technology.

It gave wide-ranging recommendations to drive India’s 5G adoption entailing areas like spectrum policy, regulatory policy, standards and education

Background: 

A panel was set up by the Department of Telecom in September 2017 to prepare a roadmap for rollout of 5G telephony in India expects the service to be operational by 2020.

Commerce Ministry developing National Logistics Portal
 

A National Logistics Portal is being developed to ensure ease of trading in the international and domestic markets, as India eyes lowering logistics cost from14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent by 2022.

The portal will link all the stakeholders of export-import, domestic trade and all trade activities on a single platform.

Purpose:

The portal will be implemented in phases and will fulfill the commitment of the Government of India to enhance trade competitiveness, create jobs, boost India's performance in global rankings and pave the way for India to become a logistics hub

Figure and Facts:

India's logistics sector is highly defragmented and the aim is to reduce the logistics cost from the present 14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent by 2022.

The country's logistics sector is very complex with more than 20 government agencies, 40 partnering government agencies (PGAs), 37 export promotion councils, 500 certifications, 10,000 commodities and USD 160 billion market size.

It also involves12 million employment base, 200 shipping agencies,36 logistics services, 50 IT ecosystems and banks and insurance agencies. Further, 81 authorities and 500certificatesare required for EXIM.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China imposes 25 % taxes on US products worth 16 billion dollars

Washington has imposed 25 percent tariffs on 16 billion dollar worth of Chinese goods coming into the US, with Beijing immediately imposing retaliatory taxes on the same value of American products. 

The move brings the total amount of goods flowing between the countries, subject to tariffs, up to 106 billion dollars, which is roughly 17 per cent of all of the bilateral trade.

RIL first Indian firm to hit Rs 8 trillion market cap

Reliance Industries (RIL) has become the first Indian company to cross Rs 8 trillion in market capitalisation. The stock gained 1.9 per cent to close at Rs 1,270; valuing the Mukesh Ambani-led firm at Rs 8.05 trillion ($115 billion at current exchange rate of Rs 70.11 for a dollar).
Tata group flagship Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also is nearing the same milestone. Currently, the technology giant is valued at Rs 7.8 trillion ($111 billion), 2.6 per cent away from the Rs 8-trillion mark.

Treasurer Scott Morrison will be Australia's new prime minister

Treasurer Scott Morrison will be Australia's new prime minister after winning a three-way battle for the leadership of the Liberal party Morrison, who will be Australia's sixth prime minister in less than 10 years, emerged victorious from a three-way race with former home affairs minister Peter Dutton and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Scott John Morrison 

Scott John Morrison was born on 13 May 1968 is an Australian politician who is to be the 30th Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Liberal Party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, representing the Division of Cook in New South Wales.

Important:

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician who is the outgoing 29th Prime Minister of Australia.

Opening Ceremony Exercise SCO Peace Mission 2018
 

Exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018, the latest in 'Peace Mission' series formally started on 24 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Russia. The opening ceremony was conducted in Chebarkul, Russia with military contingents of the all eight SCO member nations participating in this exercise.
Objectives of the Exercise:
The exercise will provide an opportunity to the armed forces of SCO nations to train in counter terrorism operations in urban scenario in a multinational and joint environment.  The scope of the exercise includes professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills & procedures, establishment of joint command and control structures and elimination of terrorist threat in urban counter terrorist scenario.
 
The Russian Army has the major participation of 1700 personnel followed by China with 700 & India with 200 personnel. The SCO Peace Mission Exercise is one of the major defense cooperation initiatives amongst SCO nations and will be a landmark event in the history of SCO defence cooperation.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact  is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter, formally establishing the organisation, was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003.