Important Current Affairs 26th August 2018

Important Current Affairs 26th August 2018

ECONOMY & BANKING

Finance Ministry ranks PNB as best PSU bank for digital transactions

A central government report has ranked Punjab National Bank (PNB) as the best PSU bank in the overall digital transactions category in India. This report has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance.

As per the Department of Financial Services (DFS) findings, PNB’s average percentage of technical declines is only 0.83 per cent of the total transactions. It has been rated as the sixth best in the overall category amongst all banks in India for digital performance. The bank is rated as ‘Good’ by the government with a score of ’71’ which is the highest category of performance.

About the Department of Financial Services

The mandate of the Department of Financial Services covers the functioning of Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance Companies and the National Pension System. It oversees several key programs/initiatives and reforms of the Government concerning the Banking Sector, the Insurance Sector and the Pension Sector in India. The key flagship schemes being currently run/managed by the Department include the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) and the Stand Up India Scheme.

AWARDS

Head of panchayat school bags best teacher award

R. Sathy, headmistress of the Madukkarai Panchayat Union Primary School in Malumichampatti village in Coimbatore district, has won the national award for best teacher for 2017. She received a communication from the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) through e-mail on Friday, stating that the accolade included a certificate of merit, a cash award of ₹50,000 and a silver medal.

The award would be presented by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu at a function in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on September 5, which coincides with Teachers Day. Prior to that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address the awardees on September 4, the communiqué said. Ms. Sathy is the only teacher from Tamil Nadu among the 45 candidates nominated for the national award.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA probe captures first images of asteroid Bennu

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft has captured the first glimpse of its distant target — asteroid Bennu — after almost two years of journey.

Launched on September 8, 2016, the OSIRIS-REx, which is NASA’s first mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on December 3. It will help unveil the mysteries of our solar system’s formation. After arrival at Bennu, the spacecraft will spend the first month performing flybys of Bennu’s north pole, equator and south pole, at distances ranging between 11.8 and 4.4 miles (19 and 7 km) from the asteroid. The spacecraft will extensively survey the asteroid before the mission team identifies two possible sample sites, which will allow the team to pick one for sample collection, scheduled for July 2020. After the sample collection, the spacecraft will head back towards Earth before ejecting the “Sample Return Capsule” for landing in the Utah desert in September 2023.

About Asteroid Bennu

101955 Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on September 11, 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table with the second-highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale.

OBITUARY

John McCain, U.S. war hero and presidential candidate, dies at 81

Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp and later had a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died on Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81.

On Aug. 13, Mr. Trump signed into law a $716 billion defence policy bill named in honour of the senator. Mr. Trump signed the John S. McCain National Defence Authorisation Act in a ceremony at a military base in New York without one mention of McCain.

Former Bengal captain Gopal Bose passes away

Former Bengal cricket captain Gopal Bose died after suffering a cardiac arrest at a Birmingham hospital. An opening batsman, Bose had scored 3757 runs in 78 first-class games with eight hundreds and 17 fifties. He also took 72 wickets with his handy off-breaks including one five-wicket haul.He was the first cricketer from Bengal to play an ODI against England in 1974, which was incidentally only the second ODI that India played.Interestingly, Bose was the manager of the Virat Kohli-led India U-19 team that won the colts World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.

SPORTS

Asian Games 2018 Update: India’s Medal Tally reaches 36 after 8^th Day

India's sprint queen Dutee Chand clinched silver in a photo finish after Hima Das and Muhammed Anas gave India two silver medals in the 400m.

Earlier India’s Lakshmanan Govindan had won bronze in 10,000 m but was disqualified for stepping out of the track.

Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to win an Asian Games individual medal in the equestrian event since 1982 besides guiding the country to a second-place finish in the team competition here. The Indian team, comprising Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Malik and Jitender Singh apart from Mirza, also claimed the silver with a score of 121.30, the feats coming days after their last-minute arrival owing to infighting in the Equestrian Federation of India.

India now has 36 medals in which 7 are Gold, 10 are silver and 19 are bronze