IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF
AUGUST 7th, 2018
1.
The 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers’
Meeting (AMM-51) was recently held at Singapore.
a. This
meeting was chaired by Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian
Balakrishnan.
b. Among
the issues discussed in the meeting included sustainable urban living,
economic integration and hot button topics like the South
China Sea, terrorism and violent extremism as well as developments in the
Korean Peninsula.
c. Ministers
concluded a single draft document which would form the basis
for further negotiations for a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
d. ASEAN - Association
of South East Asian Nations
2.
Bangladesh's Cabinet today approved
a new road safety law promising to consider death
penalty for deliberately causing accidents.
a. The
maximum jail time for rash driving deaths has been raised to 5 years from
three.
3.
Joint military exercise Maitree
2018 between Indian Army and Royal
Thai Army is being held in Thailand from 6 to 19 August 2018.
a. Maitree
2018 was platoon level exercise that comprises of infantry component.
b. The
exercise will emphasize to hone the tactical and technical skills in joint
counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in rural and urban scenario
under UN mandate.
c. Exercise
Maitree is an annual reciprocal training event. Last exercise was held in
Himachal Pradesh's Bakloh in 2017.
4.
(7th
August) is 4th National Handloom Day.
a. 7th
August was notified by the Government of India as National Handloom Day vide
Gazette Notification dated 29th July, 2015.
b. The
main objective of this day is to generate awareness about the
importance of handloom industry and its contribution to the socioeconomic
development of the country.
c. Important
Note : The date August 7 has been chosen due to its special
significance in India’s freedom struggle; it was on this day in 1905
that the Swadeshi Movement was formally launched, at a massive meeting
in the Calcutta Town hall. The movement involved revival of domestic products
and production processes.
d. Union
Textiles Minister : Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
5.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have cleared Criminal
Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which proposes death penalty for the
rape of girls below the age of 12 years.
a. This
bill will replace the ordinance that was passed in April following the outrage
over the Kathua and Unnao rapes.
b. The
Bill amends Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code, Protection of
Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Indian Evidence Act.
c. The
bill also increases the minimum punishment for rape from 7 years to 10 years.
6.
In an attempt to help students "befriend"
the English language, the Haryana government has launched
the 'I am not afraid of English' campaign in primary
schools in the state.
a. The
students will be taught one English sentence a day as part of the campaign.
7.
HDFC Life Insurance Company inked
an agreement with Vijaya Bank to tap customers of the
state-owned lender.
a. The
tie-up between between the insurer and the lender will ensure a greater reach
and penetration through 2,129 branches of the bank spread
across the country.
b. All
these branches will further strengthen HDFC Life's presence, thereby enabling
the insurer to reach out to a wider and diverse section of the population with
need-based life insurance solutions.
8.
Fino Payments Bank, one
of India’s first payments banks, has been barred by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) from adding new customers since the end of May.
a. The
central bank in its auditing of payments banks in May found Fino Payments non-compliant with
the operational guidelines laid down by it.
b. Note :
According to RBI’s operating guidelines for payments banks, a customer can make
deposits of up to ₹1 lakh per account in a
year. Such banks cannot accept deposits beyond this limit.
9.
French company IDEMIA, a global
leader in augmented identity, has become the first company to
be given the certification to manufacture and personalise RuPay chip
contact and contactless cards on the qSPARC v2 platform.
a. The
certification is issued by the National Payments Corporation of India, after
testing all payment scenarios, and thus ensuring that the cards manufactured by
IDEMIA will work seamlessly at all payment acceptance devices.
b. With
this, cardholders can usea single card for multiple payment options such as for
the Metro, bus, parking, toll, loyalty, and at retail outlets.
10.
Google today announced 'Pie'
as the name for the latest version of the Android operating system,
succeeding Android Oreo.
a. This
operating system prioritises battery for most used apps, has
adaptive brightness and lets users ditch traditional three-button navigation
for gestures.
b. It also
has an 'App Timer' that lets users set time limits on apps and greys out
the icon when the time is up.
11.
Elon Musk-led space startup SpaceX is
going to launch its biggest batch of more than 70 satellites into
orbit aboard its Falcon 9 rocket later this year.
a. Dubbed
the SSO-A mission, the payload includes 15 larger microsatellites
and 56 smaller standardised satellites known as CubeSats.
b. Note : Up to
18 different countries have payloads on the flight, including the US,
Australia, Thailand, and Poland.
12.
China has launched a new
generation supercomputer prototype Sunway that can
execute a quintillion (a thousand raised to the power of six)
calculations per second.
a. It was
developed by the National Research Center of Parallel Computer, National
Supercomputing Centre, and the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science
and Technology.
13.
Senior Congress leader and long-time aide of
former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, RK Dhawan (81)
passed away.
14.
The oath-taking ceremony for the 3 newly-elevated
Supreme Court judges Indira Banerjee, Vineet
Saran and KM Joseph took place
today.
a. Chief
Justice of India Deepak Misra administered oath of office to new judges.
15.
Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has
named Ramon Laguarta to succeed Indra Nooyi as Chief
Executive Officer (CEO), when she steps down on October 3.
16.
1981-batch officer of Indian Railway Service
of Engineers (IRSE), Anurag Sachan was today
appointed as Managing Director (MD) of Dedicated
Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL).
17.
For the first time in the event's
history, Facial recognition software is set to be used
at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
a. The
system, provided by Japanese company NEC, will be used to identify over 300,000
people including athletes, volunteers, and media.
18.
Netherlands has
been crowned the world champions for a record eighth time in 14th
edition of Women's Hockey World Cup 2018 by defeating Ireland
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