National
India’s first BIO-CNG plant inaugurated in Pune:
i. India’s first ever BIO-CNG plant producing CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) from agricultural residue was inaugurated in Pune, Maharashtra.
ii. It was jointly inaugurated by Union Minister of surface Transport Nitin Gadkari and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
key Insights:
a) The plant was commissioned by Pune-based Primove Engineering Private Limited. It has been set up as a Proof of Concept (PoC) which can be replicated elsewhere.
b) It uses special bacterial solution for treating agricultural waste in the process of generation of CNG. The gas generated is cleaned and compressed for use in vehicles.
Significance: The bio-fuel will help in reducing the import of diesel up to 50% and therefore the huge amount of foreign exchange can be saved. This energy source is also cost effective and pollution free. This project is remarkable step in Make In India and also will help reduce problem of disposal of agricultural waste was a major concern in the country.
PM Modi announces 20% hike in freedom fighters’ pension:
i. PM Narendra Modi has announced 20% hike in pension of freedom fighters and museums would be established in different states from Red Fort on 70th Independence Day. hose who are receiving Rs.25,000 will now get Rs.30,000.
ii. The government will built museums in several states to glorify the role of unknown tribal freedom fighters among future generations.
Union Government constitutes National Committee on Trade Facilitation:
i. The Union Government has constituted a National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) to develop the pan-India road map for trade facilitation.
ii. It has been constituted in line with the World Trade Organisation (WTO’s) Trade Facilitation Agreement (FTA), which India also has ratified.
iii. The NCTF will inter – ministerial body on trade facilitation and will be headed by Pradeep Kumar Sinha, who is the Cabinet Secretary of India.
First National Conference of Investigating Agencies concludes in New Delhi:
i. The first National Conference of Investigating Agencies was held from August 12 to 13, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
ii. The Union Home Minister Rajnath singh has inauguarated the first national Conference of investigating agencies.
iii. The two days conference is being organised by the Buerau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) in coordination with National Investigation Agency.
iv. The agenda of the Conference was to: Discuss the latest laws and judgement and their implications for investigation and prosecution.
India’s first Nuclear Suppliers’ Insurance Policy unveiled by INIP :
i. India’s first Nuclear Suppliers’ insurance policy for ‘Right to Recourse’ was unveiled by India Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP).
ii. The policy was unveiled by Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Sekhar Basu in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key Insights:
a) INIP is the 27th global nuclear insurance pool which was launched by state run General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), in association with non-life insurance companies.
b) New India Assurance Co (NIAC) and INIP will issue the policy and administer the claims on behalf of the pool. Earlier NIAC had issued a policy for the operators of nuclear power plants under INIP by underwriting premium to the tune of Rs 100 crore.
c) Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP) of 1,500 crore rupees was launched as per the mandatory provision under the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND), 2010.
Union Government launches 1st phase of Smart Ganga City programme in 10 cities:
i. The Union Government has launched the first phase of Smart Ganga City programme in 10 cities located along River Ganga.
ii. The first phase of programme was jointly launched by the Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.
iii. 10 Cities/Towns are Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibganj and Barrackpore.
iv. Under this programme, Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and improve drainage network will be set up on hybrid annuity mode on public private partnership basis.
v. In the hybrid annuity model, a part of capital investment (up to 40%) will be paid by Union Government through construction linked milestones. While the balance amount will come through an annuity over the contract duration up to 20 years.
Business & Economy
UBI launches USSD based mobile app for basic banking needs with NPCI:
i. The Union Bank of India (UBI) has launch an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) based *99# mobile application for their customers for basic banking needs.
ii. It was launched in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in the country.
iii. The application can be used even without any internet connection as it does not require any data and is available in 10 languages.
iv. It provides basic banking facilities like checking account balance, sending money, Mobile PIN (MPIN) management.
v. Besides, it provides value added services like checking Aadhaar linked overdraft status and PMJDY account overdraft status.
About Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD):
USSD is a GSM based technology i.e. used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network. It is sometimes referred to as Quick Codes or Feature codes. It is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider’s computers.
Kotak Mahindra Bank starts Innovation Lab, open to investing in startups:
i. Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank has started an ‘Innovation Lab’ in Bengaluru to tap into the best technology that impacts its operations, and is open to investing in startups.
ii. The fourth largest private sector bank has put together a seven-member core team which is working with an equal number of startups in the artificial intelligence, analytics, biometric or iris scanning and machine learning space.
Appointments & Resignations
Manjula Chellur named new chief justice of Bombay High Court:
i. Manjula Chellur, chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, has been appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court with effect from August 24.
ii. Chellur will be only second woman Chief Justice of the Bombay HC, after Sujata Manohar in 1994. Her appointment follows retirement of D H Waghela as Chief Justice of the Bombay HC on August 10. Waghela held the post for a brief six months.
iii. Chellur, born in 1955 in Karnataka, got her law degree and started practising as a lawyer in Karnataka after which she became a district judge in 1988.
iv. In 2000, she became a permanent judge of the Karnataka High Court. In 2012, she was appointed Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and in 2014 she was transferred to Calcutta.
Sports
Usain Bolt wins Gold medal in 100 meters event at 2016 Rio Olympics:
i. Jamaica’s speedster Usain Bolt has won the Gold medal in 100 meters final event at 2016 Rio Olympics by sprinting at recorded time of 9.81 seconds. With this he has retained his coveted title “Fastest man alive on the planet”.
ii. Besides, American Sprinter Justin Gatlin won silver medal (9.89 seconds) and Andre De Grasse of Canada won bronze medal (9.91 seconds).
iii. This was Usain Bolt’s third Olympic Gold medal in the 100m event after he had won in 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He also has all the sprinting world record to his name including the 100m, 200m and 4x100m. He is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records.
About Bolt: Usain Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica. By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school’s fastest runner over the 100 metres distance.
Ajinkya Rahane eighth in ICC Test rankings, R Ashwin top all-rounder:
i. Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane jumped three places (currently 8th) to enter the top-10 in latest Test rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Rahane is the only Indian in the top-10 with Australian skipper Steve Smith on top of the list.
ii. Ravichandran Ashwin maintained his pole position among all-rounders in the latest Test rankings.
iii. In the bowlers’ list, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja were static at 2nd and 6th position respectively with Jimmy Anderson on top of the list.
Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez of Spain won the Olympic men’s doubles tennis title:
i. Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez of Spain won the Olympic men’s doubles tennis title, beating Romania’s Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau to secure their country’s third gold medal of the Rio Games.
ii. Nadal and Lopez defeated the Romanians while American duo Steve Johnson and Jack Sock beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil to clinch bronze.
Short News
I. Russia has deployed its advanced S-400 air defence missile system to annexed Crimea. Moscow also announced exercises in Crimea next week to simulate an attack by Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
II. The govt has ambitious plan to lay 6900 km of Gas pipelines linking Bangladesh, Myanmar, most north-eastern states & West Beangal.
III. Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has laid foundation stone for a multi-modal terminal at varanasi. The terminal is part of Rs. 4,200 crore Jal Marg Vikas Project to enable commercial navigation of vessels on river Ganga from Varanasi to Haldia.
IV. Defence Minister Manohar Parikar inauguarated a week long cultural extravaganxa, Bharat Parv, at the Rajpath Lawns. Bharat parv is being organised as part of Independence Day Celebrations.
V. Ethopia’s Almaz Ayana smashed the world record by running 20.17.46 to win the 10,000 meters title at Rio 2016.
VI. India’s top squash player Dipika Pallikal has won the prestigious PSA Australian Open held in Melbourne. In the 40-minute final match, she defeated Mayar Hany (World no 8) of Egypt.
VII. Eminent poet and lyricist Na Muthukumar passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu . He was 41. He was known for his critically acclaimed literary work and Tamil film songs. He also had won two national awards.
VIII. Sri Lanka and China have signed a tripartite agreement to proceed with the construction of a Financial City Centre in Colombo. The agreement was signed between Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority, Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development and China Harbour Engineering Company.
IX. Chinese scientists are going to perform the world’s first genetic editing trial on humans in an attempt to find a cure for lung cancer. It will be performed as the trial phase by injecting cells that have been modified using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique into the patients.
X. The Odisha government has decided to make Aadhaar card mandatory for procurement of paddy in the state. The government has also decided to link Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries for availing ration under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and work under MGNREGA.
XI. Principal Scientist of Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) P Shanmugam has bagged the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award for meritorious services in the Higher Education Department of Tamil Nadu.
XII. The USA earned its 1000th Olympic Gold Medals in Summer Olympics after the American women’s team won the 4×100 meters medley relay.