31st August Current Affairs

India

Assam govt extends AFSPA

Assam government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA for another six months in the entire state.

The official notification said that the state governor has declared the entire State of Assam as the ‘disturbed area’ up to six months.

The Act gives special rights and immunity to security forces in carrying out various operations in disturbed areas.

INS Teg lends assistance to MV Vela

INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, provided assistance to MV Vela, a Norwegian owned ship in Gulf of Aden.

INS Teg dispatched a specialist team for recovery damaged anchor and cable and assisted the crew of MV Vela.

MV Vela and the Combined Task Force expressed their gratitude to the ship and the Indian Navy.

NMCG Approves 150 Cr projects

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) approved projects worth nearly Rs 150 crores in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal under the Namami Gange programme.

These projects include interception and diversion works where small rivers, rivulets, and drains empty into the main river.

These projects also include Sewage Treatment Plant and development of Ghats.

Revised cost estimate for IPPB

The Union Cabinet approved the revision of project outlay for setting up of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) from Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1,435 crore.

The additional sum of Rs. 635 crore accounts of Rs 400 crore for Technology Costs and Rs 235 crore for Human Resource Costs.

IPPB services shall be available at 650 IPPB branches and 3250 Access Points from 1st September 2018.

Business

ADB sign $375mn loan for Irrigation

The government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $375 million loan agreement to expand irrigation networks and system efficiency of Madhya Pradesh.

The project will develop 125,000 hectares of new, highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks.

The project aims to double farming incomes by benefiting over 800,000 people in Madhya Pradesh.

World

RCEP meeting in Singapore

Trade ministers of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) bloc, including India and China, met in Singapore.

RCEP is a mega trade pact that aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic cooperation and intellectual property rights.

The bloc comprises 10 ASEAN members and their 6 FTA partners- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Joint military exercise ends in Russia

The fifth edition of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Peace Mission Exercise 2018, ended in Chebarkul, Russia.

The Indian delegation led by Lt. Gen Satish Dua, participated for the first time in the exercise.

In this exercise, Pakistan and Indian participated for the first time.

Sports

Swapna won first Asiad gold in Heptathlon

Swapna Barman created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold medal.

The 21-year-old Barman logged 6026 points from the seven events competed for two days in women’s heptathlon.

China’s Qingling Wang (5954) won the silver and Japan’s Yuki Yamasaki won the bronze medal with 5873 points.

Dutee Chand won silver in women’s 200m

India’s Dutee Chand won the Silver medal in the women’s 200m event at the 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta.

She crossed the finishing line in 23.20s behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong who clinched the gold in 22.96s and the bronze went to China’s Wei Yongli (23.27s).

She won two medals at the Asian Games as she won silver earlier in the women’s 100m.

Arpinder Singh clinches gold

Arpinder Singh clinched India’s first men’s triple jump gold in 48 years, with a jump of 16.77m in the Asian Games.

India’s last Asian Games gold medal in men’s triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.

Ruslan Kurbanov of Uzbekistan took the silver with a best jump of 16.62m, while Shuo Cao of China was third with an effort of 16.56m.