National
4 Khel Ratnas awarded in a year for the first time:
i) President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu, bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, and shooter Jitu Rai.
ii) This is the first time that four Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna have been awarded in a single year.
iii) The award includes a medal, a citation, and a cash reward of 7.5 lakh.
West Bengal passes resolution to rename the state:
i) The West Bengal Assembly today passed the resolution to rename the state to ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, ‘Bengal’ in English and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi.
ii) The state Cabinet reportedly decided to rename the state by dropping the word ‘West’ so that it doesn’t come last alphabetically on the states’ list.
iii) Further, one of the proposed names ‘Bongo’ was dropped by the Assembly.
Aug 29 is Sports Day to mark Dhyan Chand’s b’day:
i) National Sports Day in India is celebrated on August 29 to mark hockey legend Dhyan Chand’s birthday.
ii) Dhyan Chand, considered as the greatest player in hockey, played a key role in India’s three consecutive Olympic triumphs in 1928, 1932 and 1936.
iii) Notably, the government gives away awards such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards on this day.
US Postal Dept to launch stamp commemorating Diwali:
i) The US Postal Service Department has decided to release a special postage stamp commemorating Diwali.
ii) The stamp features a traditional ‘diya’ with a golden background.
iii) It will be officially launched at a ceremony held by the Consulate General of India in New York on October 5. The stamp was designed based on public suggestions.
Doha Bank opens branch in Kerala:
i) Qatar’s based Doha Bank has opened a branch, the Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the branch.
ii) Doha Bank is one of the largest commercial banks in the State of Qatar.
11-yr-old girl to swim 570 km across Ganga :
i) To raise awareness about ‘clean Ganga’, an 11-year-old girl has decided to swim across the river and cover a distance of 570 km from Kanpur to Varanasi in 7 days.
ii) Shraddha Shukla, a class IX student, wants to represent India in swimming at the Olympics.
HRD Minister Javadekar inaugurates IIT-Dharwad:
i) Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday inaugurated IIT Dharwad (Karnataka), which had started functioning from August 1 with 120 students from a temporary structure.
ii) The institute, spread across 470 acres, will be mentored by IIT-Bombay for the next three years.
Tata launches research alliance with global institutes:
i) Indian conglomerate Tata Group has launched a collaboration with leading academic universities including Ivy League Yale and Harvard, which will focus on research and application in fields like network science, and healthcare.
ii) Tata will provide funds worth over $25 million for this.
Tourism Ministers of BRICS nations to meet in MP:
i) The Tourism Ministers of BRICS countries will meet in Madhya Pradesh’s temple city Khajuraho for a two-day long conference from September 1.
ii) During the conference, several presentations will be made and group discussions on Inter-Regional Tourism Promotion will be held.
Family sells SA holdings over Prez influence claims:
i) South Africa’s Gupta family, accused of holding undue political sway over President Jacob Zuma, it will dispose of its South African holdings.
ii) This comes after the country’s deputy finance minister alleged that he was offered the finance minister post by the family. Notably, the family holds businesses in various sectors ranging from media to mining.
Mehbooba Mufti launches UJALA scheme in J&K:
i) CM, Mehbooba Mufti has formally launched the Ujala Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir with the distribution of LED bulbs.
ii) The National LED programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2015. Under this scheme consumer can buy five LED bulbs at the rate of Rs 20 each by showing monthly electricity bills or ID cards.
Jayalalithaa announces ‘Amma Gyms, Parks,’ for rural Tamil Nadu:
i) The latest in a series of initiatives under brand ‘Amma’, Tamil Nadu government will set up 500 ‘Amma Gyms’ for youth and develop as many ‘Amma Parks’ for the public in rural areas.
ii) Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said 500 ‘Amma Gyms’ would be set up in rural areas to promote physical and mental health of youth, at an estimated total cost of Rs 50 crore. Each gym would be set up at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.
Short News
i) Russian diver Artem Silchenko, won the men’s event of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2016, held in Italy
ii) Future Group-owned online platform to buy Big Bazaar products, ‘Big Bazaar Direct’ is shutting down next week following losses, the Group’s Founder and CEO Kishore Biyani
iii) Indian Test captain, Virat Kohli is set to replace limited-overs captain MS Dhoni as PepsiCo’s icon.
iv) The Maharashtra Assembly’s has unanimously passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill.
v) Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from Germany has won the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One.
vi) Western Railway won the overall team championship in the 82nd All India Railway athletic Championship held at Tiruchirapalli Tamil Nadu.
vii) Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, in partnership with Wisden India, has launched the world’s first auction fantasy league named ‘Cric-Trade’ for cricket fans.
viii) Ravichandran Ashwin became the first Indian to complete 200 wickets in T20 cricket, after dismissing Kieron Pollard in the second T20I against West Indies in Florida.
ix) Abhijit Bhaduri, chief learning officer of Wipro has resigned. Bhaduri will start his own executive coaching company.
x) E-commerce portal Amazon.in has announced the launch of a dedicated online Telugu book store with a wide-range of over 10,000 Telugu titles.
xi) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held bilateral talks with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw.
xii) The United Nations Development Programme said sub-Saharan African economies lose a combined $95 billion each year because of fewer job opportunities for women than men.
xiii) Gurmail Singh, who was a part of India’s last Olympic gold medal-winning hockey team in 1980, has been removed from his Punjab Police post after his wife, Rajbir Kaur, a former hockey player, joined AAP.
xiv) Domino’s Pizza’ in New Zealand (NZ) is aiming to become the first company in the world to become an unmanned commercial drone delivery service on a regular basis.
xv) Gurgaon to get new IT park worth $400 million.
xvi) China has launched a cargo train service to Russia in an attempt to improve trade and commerce with the country.
xvii) Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has been appointed as the ‘Chief Speed Officer’ in a lifetime deal with Caribbean cell carrier Digicel.