28th August Current Affairs

India

Committee on review of Company Act 2013

The committee on review of penal provisions of Company Act 2013 submitted its final report to Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.’

The committee is headed by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas.

The Committee was constituted by the government in July 2018 to review the existing framework dealing with offences under the Companies Act, 2013.

2nd marriage won’t be void during divorce pet

The Supreme Court has clarified that a second marriage is valid even if divorce proceedings of the first marriage are pending in court.

Section 5(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act places a bar on marriage by a person who has a spouse living at the time of the marriage.

Section 11 makes such a marriage null and void.

Science

Spritzer telescope completes 15 years in space

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the youngest member of the “Great Observatory” programme, has completed 15 years in space.

The Great Observatories are four space telescopes – Spitzer, Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Spitzer is designed to view the universe in different and complementary wavelengths of light.

NASA spacecraft approaches 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 .

The OSIRIS-REx is a NASA’s first mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid-Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx was launched on September 8, 2016.

 It will help unveil the mysteries of our solar system’s formation.

India’s first biofuel-powered flight tested

India’s first biofuel-powered flight that aims to reduce costs of air travel by replacing the costly aviation turbine fuel was successfully tested by SpiceJet on 27th August 2018.

The biofuel is made partially from resources such as agricultural residues, non-edible oils and bio-degradable fractions of industrial and municipal wastes.

The flight will travel from Dehradun to Delhi.

Sports

Government unveils sports policy for CPSEs

The Government of India launched a policy framework for the promotion of sports in CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises).

The policy will support CPSEs for recreation, positive health, competitive excellence and social harmony.

CPSEs will allocate a specific budget for sports activities as per their capability and financial strength.

Muhammad Anas won silver medal

Muhammad Anas won a silver medal in the men’s 400m race in Asian Games 2018.

The gold medal was won by Qatar.

India’s Arokia Rajiv who was also in the final finished fourth.

It was also the first time since 1982 that India won a medal in the men’s and women’s 400 metres since 1982.

Fouaad won equestrian silver at Asian Games

Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to win an individual medal in the equestrian event at the Asian Games in Jakarta on 26th August 2018.

He won the silver medal in the Eventing competition, while Japan won the gold medal.

The last individual medal in Eventing competition, however, came in 1982.

Dutee Chand won Silver medal in 100m race

Dutee Chand won silver medal in women’s 100m on 26th August, 2018 at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

It was India’s first medal in 20 years in this event.

India’s last medal in this event was the bronze won by Rachita Mistry in 1998 Asian Games.

Bahrain won the gold medal while China took the bronze medal.

Business

PNB ranked best bank for digital transactions

Based on the report of Department of Financial Services, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has been ranked as the best Public Sector bank in the overall digital transactions category in India.

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.

Appointments

Maurya sworn in as Uttarakhand Governor

Baby Rani Maurya was sworn in as the new Governor of Uttarakhand on 26th August 2018.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered to Ms Maurya by the acting Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court Rajiv Sharma.

Ms Maurya, a former mayor of Agra, was nominated as governor of Uttarakhand on August 21, 2018.

She replaces Krishna Kant Paul whose five-year tenure ended in August 2018.

G Satheesh Reddy appointed DRDO chairman

G Satheesh Reddy was appointed Chairman of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) on 25th August 2018.

Reddy is the scientific adviser to the Defence Minister.

He will also be the secretary of Department of Defence Research and Development (DoDRD).

Established in 1980, the DoDRD advises the government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics.