National:
1. A new set of specified health
warnings for all tobacco product packs has notified by Union Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare. In this regard, it has made
amendments in Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling)
Rules, 2008. The amended rules will be applicable w.e.f. 1st September 2018.
Under it, Government has released two separate set of images. The first set
will be used on tobacco products from September 1, 2018 for period of 1 year,
whereas second set of images will be used from September 1, 2019. Besides,
images quit line number is also pertinent feature of new warning. It mandates
packaging to display “Quit Today Call” number which is online on-call
assistance facility launched for those people seeking support to quit use of
tobacco products.
2. The Centralized secretariat at
Panchkula (Haryana) to tackle the drug menace has been decided to set up by
five northern states Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand
and Union territories of and Delhi and Chandigarh.
It aims to have mechanism for quick and proactive information exchange on drug
trends, cases registered and persons named, wanted or arrested. It will host
monthly meeting of special task forces and quarterly meetings at level of Home
Secretaries to build inter-agency trust to break and demolish the supply chains
to tackle the drug menace. It was decided at in inter-State regional conference
of Chief Ministers organised in Chandigarh by Haryana government on issue of
“Drug menace, challenges and strategies”.
3. Re-Water Research Center to
replenish and rejuvenate water resources has decided to set up by Indian
Instituted of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur.
IIT-Kharagpur will set up an on-campus plant which will convert 1.35 million
litre of sewage water from the hostels to 1.2 million litre of potable water on
daily basis. The purpose of this centre will be to tackle challenge of
resolving two burning issues faced by urban India – sewage disposal and access
to clean potable water. It will network with government bodies to take up
technology developed by it and process and meet the water challenge faced by
various cities. It will be seed-funded by two alumni members – Aneesh Reddy
& Aditya Choubey and named after them as Aditya Choubey Center for Re-Water
Research. The pilot plant is expected to be ready by March 2019.
4. To mark the country’s fight
against malnutrition the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has
announced to observe September 2018 as the National Nutrition Month. It
will be jointly organised by NITI Ayog, Ministries of Women and Child
Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare, Panchayati Raj, Rural
Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Housing and Urban Affairs, Human
Resources Development (HRD), Information and Broadcasting, Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution, Tribal Affairs, Minority Affairs and AYUSH. The
month-long intensive campaign will be undertaken with an aim of reaching every
household with message of nutrition — ‘har ghar poshan tyohar’ (every house a
celebration of nutrition).
5. In order to improve the quality
and standard of engineering education in the country, the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) will mentor at least five engineering colleges located in its
vicinity. The decision was taken during the 52nd Meeting of
the Council of IITs, which was held under the Chairmanship of Human Resource
Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on August 20, 2018.
6. The Madras High Court on
August 20, 2018 ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education to publicise
in media that stringent action would be taken against institutes not following
the board's 'no homework' rule for class I and II students.
The high court had earlier directed the Centre to instruct the state
governments to make sure that no school in the country prescribed homework for
students studying in Classes I and II.
7. The Supreme Court on August 21,
2018 ruled that the ‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option will not be applicable
for voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. The bench held that
the NOTA option is meant only for universal adult suffrage and direct elections
and not for the polls held by the system of proportional representation by
means of the single transferable vote as done in the Rajya Sabha. The
ruling was made by a bench of Justices comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices
AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.
8. In
Kerala, with flood water receding in
many places, people have started returning to their homes and begun cleaning
operations. Though the rescue operation in state is almost
complete, Nelkiyampathy in Palakkad remains still isolated due to landslides. Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government has also decided to distribute
cleaning kits. The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister on August 21, 2018
decided to seek relief package worth Rs 2600 crore from the Centre.
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International:
1. Turkey has initiated a dispute
complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States for
imposing additional tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Turkey.
US has doubled the tariffs in response to Turkey's rejection of a request to
release an American pastor detained for the past two years for alleged
involvement in an abortive military coup. Turkey has retaliated by imposing
tariffs on American products.
2. India and Japan resolved to
expand their maritime cooperation and work together to ensure peace and
stability in the Indo-Pacific region, which is witnessing growing Chinese
assertiveness. The two sides also firmed up a
project in the area of Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and robotics, marking the
start of first such bilateral initiative. In their wide-ranging talks,
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Japanese counterpart Itsunori
Onodera also agreed to deepen the overall defence cooperation between the two
countries including in areas of co-development of military platforms and
weapons. The two ministers also exchange views on India's long-pending
proposal to procure the US-2 ShinMaywa amphibious aircraft from Japan for its
Navy.
Science & Technology:
1. NASA on August 21, 2018 said
that scientists have found frozen water deposits in the darkest and coldest
parts of the Moon's polar regions. Scientists
used data from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), to identify three specific signatures that definitively
prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon. Most of the
newfound water ice lies in the shadows of craters near the poles, where the warmest
temperatures never reach above minus 156 degrees Celsius. Due
to the very small tilt of the Moon's rotation axis, sunlight never reaches
these regions.
2. India has asked WhatsApp to set
up a local entity in the country and find a technological solution to trace the
origin of fake messages. The information was
shared by the Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad after
his meeting with Whatsapp CEO Chris Daniels in New Delhi on August 21, 2018.
Economy:
1. New Standard Operating
Procedures (SoPs) for cash refilling of automated teller machines (ATMs) has
been issued by Union Home Ministry. It sets deadline of
replenishing cash in ATMs before 9 pm in cities and 6pm in rural areas. In case
of Naxal-hit districts notified by central government, e deadline will be 4pm.
Every cash van must have one driver, two armed security guards, two ATM
officers or custodians. The cash van should not carry cash of more than Rs. 5
crore per trip. The cash van shall be provided with small CCTV system with at
least five days recording facility and three cameras installed in front, rear
and inside of cabin. The cash van shall be equipped with hooter, fire
extinguishers and emergency lights to ensure quick reaction in case of attack.
Every cash transportation operation should be carried out only in secured cash
vans fitted with GPS tracking device. During loading or unloading of cash,
nature’s call, tea or lunch break, at least one armed security guard should
remain present with cash van at all times.
Awards:
1. 2018 Rajiv Gandhi National
Sadbhavana Award was conferred to former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna
Gandhi. He was presented award in New Delhi on occasion
of 74th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He is grandson
of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi. He is retired IAS officer (Tamil Nadu
cadre) and also had served as diplomat. He was 22nd Governor of West Bengal
serving from 2004 to 2009.
2. General Dalbir Singh Suhag
(Retired) of Indian Army has been awarded Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander)
by United States Government for his exceptionally meritorious service as Chief
of Army Staff (CoAS) from August 2014 to December 2016.
With this, he becomes second Indian to get this award, first being General
Rajendrasinghji Jadeja in 1946.
Sports:
1. Rishabh Pant became fourth
Indian wicket-keeper to take five catches on Test debut during the second day
of the third Test against England and joins club of other Indian wicket-keepers
who have taken five catches on Test debut. Pant became
India’s 291st Test player. It also makes him Pant first Asian wicket-keeper and
third in the world to take five catches in an innings on Test debut. Other two
international wicket-keepers who achieved this feat are B Taber (vs South
Africa, 1966) and J MacLean ( vs Brisbane, 1978).Other Indian Wicket Keepers
are Naren Tamhane (vs Pakistan in 1955), Kiran More (vs England in 1986) and
Naman Ojha (vs Sri Lanka in 2015).
2. Saurabh Choudhary won gold in
10m Air Pistol event with Asiad record, while Abhishek Verma bagged bronze.
India’s Sanjeev Rajput, on the other hand, claimed the silver by
finishing second in the finals of the 50m rifle 3 positions men’s event
on the 3 day of 2018 Asian Games.
3. Teen cyclist Esow Alben has
created history by claiming India's first ever medal - a silver- at the UCI
Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. He
put enormous pressure on Czech Republic's Jakub Stastny in the final sprint
before settling for the silver medal. Esow finished just 0.017
seconds behind gold medalist Stastny in the thrilling photo-finish of a race.
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