National
•The Union Cabinet has given its approval to create a Project Development Fund (PDF) for catalysing Indian economic presence in the CLMV countries viz. Cambodia, Laos Myanmar and Vietnam.
•The Union Cabinet has given its approval to proposal for dissolution of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited (CIWTC).
•The Union Cabinet has apprised the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and CERT-UK.
•Ujarat has become the first state in the country to distribute two crore LED bulbs under the Centre’s UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) scheme.
•The Madhukar Gupta Committee on border protection has submitted its report to the Union Ministry Home Affairs (MHA).
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the first phase of SAUNI (Saurastra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) Yojana at Sanodara of Jamnagar district of Gujarat.
•India and the U.S signed the bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that will give the militaries of both countries access to each other’s facilities for supplies and repairs.
•Expressing solidarity with the new government of Myanmar, India would support all its endeavours.
•The Department of Administrative Reforms announced the institution of the Prime Minister’s Annual Award for Excellence in Public Administration to honour extraordinary and innovative work done by districts and the organisations of the Central and State governments in implementing the priority programmes of the Government of India.
•The Union Human Resource Ministry has formally launched Indian Institute of Techonogy (IIT) Dharwad in Karnataka.
•Maharashtra Government has unveiled ambitious Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway project in Mumbai.
•The 22nd edition of the Delhi Book Fair (DBF) began at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
•The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) e-box, in New Delhi.
•The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has identified and registered nine new breeds of indigenous farm (livestock and poultry) animals.
•The first Children Court of South India was launched at the Nampally Criminal Courts Complex in Hyderabad, Telangana to fast disposal of cases related to children.
•The Union Cabinet has given its approval for introduction of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 to banning commercial surrogacy in country.
•The two-day meeting of Ministers of Disaster Management (MDM) of BRICS countries concluded in Udaipur, Rajasthan with the adoption of the Udaipur Declaration.
•The Union Government has launched Accessible E-Library Sugamya Pustakalaya for Divyang under Prime Minister’s Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.
•President Pranab Mukherjee launched Akashvani Maitree (Moitree) Channel and its multimedia website in Bengali language for listeners in West Bengal, Bangladesh and the adjoining areas.
•National Career Service (NCS) signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with strategic partners for enhancing quality and reach of employment services through the NCS network.
•Maharashtra and Telangana have signed agreement for three irrigation projects to be constructed on Godavari, Pranahita and Painganga rivers.
•Maharashtra Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop 10 airports as part of the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme.
•Andhra Pradesh became the first state in the country to launch DNA Index System (DIS) for DNA (Deoxyribonucleac acid) profiling of criminals.
•Maharashtra became the first state in the country to draft its own internal security legislation The Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA), 2016.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani jointly tele-inaugurated the restored Stor Palace in Kabul.
•BRICS Women Parliamentarians forum has unanimously passed the Jaipur Declaration on the concluding day of the Forum’s meeting held in Jaipur.
•India ranks a low 39th in terms of fixed broadband adoption in the list of 53 Asia Pacific countries.
•India has ranked 66th in the 2016 Global Innovation Index (GII). In this edition, India has jumped up by 15 spots from 81st position in 2015 GII.
•The Union Ministry of Mines has launched web portal for Star Rating of Major Mineral Mines with an aim to promote sustainable mining.
•The Maharashtra Government became first state in the country to launch India's first comprehensive Crime Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) in Mumbai.
•The Assam Assembly has passed the Assam Amusements and Betting Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to give a fillip to the local film industry by reducing the service charge of cinema tickets.
•The Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has launched a mobile app that integrates various social media handles of over 170 Indian missions on a common platform.
•The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur has adopted five villages in Uttar Pradesh under the Namami Gange programme.
•The Union Power Ministry has launched ‘e-Trans’ & ‘DEEP’ e-bidding web portals for electronic bidding and e-reverse auction of tariff-based electricity transmission projects.
•Parliament has passed Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill, 2016.
•The Parliament passed The Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 after it was unanimously passed by the Lok Sabha by approving all the amendments made by Rajya Sabha earlier.
•The Rajya Sabha has passed the Mental Health Care Bill to provide better healthcare for people suffering from mental illness and also to decriminalise suicide.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a theme song for Tiranga Yatra to be organised to mark 70 years of Independence Day. The theme song 70 Saal Azadi Yaad Karo Kurbani has been composed by Dr. Ghazal Srinivas.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Yaad Karo Kurbani (remember the sacrifices) celebrations at birthplace of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh.
•Maharashtra Government has launched Quit India 2 Swaraaj to Suraaj Movement against various social ills during commemoration of Platinum Jubilee anniversary of the Quit India Movement.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Mission Bhagiratha with an objective to provide safe drinking water to all.
•Telangana Government has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for setting up Telangana Water Resources Information System (TRIS).
•The Odisha Government had launched Baristha Bunakar Sahayata Yojana, a special assistance scheme for elderly weavers.
•The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will house the India’s first repository on tigers, under its new Tiger Cell.
•The Union Government has launched MAA (Mothers’ Absolute Affection), a nation-wide breast feeding programme. It was launched by Union Health Minister & Family Welfare J P Nadda along with Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit who is brand ambassador of this campaign.
International
•China has successfully launched the first satellite dubbed as The Tiantong-01 for mobile telecommunication.
•India has approached United States (US) and select European countries part of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crack terror fund trail details of the Al Rehmat Trust from Pakistan.
•The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has voiced its concern over alleged excesses of the Indian military and the paramilitary forces in Kashmir.
•Myanmar has officially announced to support for China’s ambitious One Belt and One Road (OBOR) connectivity initiative along the ancient Silk Road.
•Chinese scientists have discovered a small molecule (new drug) named XMU-MP-1 that can regenerate tissue. It has potential to eliminate transplants of some organs.
•The world’s highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge was opened to visitors in central China.
•India and Germany have signed an agreement on vocational training that aims to foster conditions to create and improve workplace-based vocational training in India’s industrial clusters.
•United States is going to create world’s largest protected marine reserve area named as Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the Hawaiian coast.
•Pakistan is going to host the 19th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit in Islamabad (capital city) and Murree on November 9 and 10, 2016.
•Scientists in Japan studying earthquakes for the first time have detected a rare deep-Earth tremor, known as an S (secondary) wave microseism. Microseisms are very faint tremors.
•The world’s first self-driving taxi service was launched in Singapore. This launch is significant as it offer technology demonstration that could revolutionize the future transport industry.
•The Union Cabinet has been apprised of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and South Africa to establish cooperation in Grassroots Innovation.
•The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of new Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Fiji.
•The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Myanmar in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine.
•India and Bangladesh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Route Permit for carrying Petroleum Goods to Tripura via Bangladesh.
Business And Economy
•The Union Finance Ministry has constituted 11 members high-level committee to suggest steps to promote card payments with an aim to discourage cash transactions.
•Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to provide loans up to Rs 3 lakh at 7 per cent interest rate to Women Self-Help Group (SHG).
•The Union Cabinet approved a revised Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income between India and Cyprus.
•India’s premier container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai has signed 400 Million US Dollar agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) for External Commercial Borrowing (ECB).
•The India Post Payments Bank Limited (IPPBL) has received the Certificate of Incorporation from the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs under the Companies Act 2013.
•The State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) board of directors has approved merger of its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself.
•The Union Government has announced that the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) of commercial banks have increased by around 4% in the last one year (March 2015 to March 2016).
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review for year 2016-17 has maintained status quo in key policy interest rate.
•The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) told the Supreme Court that banned Ponzi schemes do not fall under its regulatory purview.
Sports
•With Russia’s Besik Kudukhov being found guilty of using banned substances, he has been stripped of his silver medal in the 60kg freestyle category at the 2012 Games, clearing the way for Yogeshwar’s bronze medal to now be upgraded to silver.
•Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from Germany has won the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One.
•The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has constituted five-member review committee to probe the Indian shooters Rio Games debacle.
•The 31st Summer Olympics (or 2016 Rio Olympics) hosted by Brazilian City, Rio de Janeiro ended after 16 days of sporting spectacle.
•The games had seen participation of nearly 11,000 participants from 205 countries, including a first-ever refugee team featuring in 306 events of 42 sporting disciplines.
•United States ended the Games at the top of the medals tally. They finished with 46 Gold, 37 Silver and 38 Bronze.
•India finished at joint 67th position in the medals tally with two medals.
•The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) has announced that 2016 Kabaddi World Cup will be hosted in Ahmedabad, Gujarat between October 7 and 22, 2016.
•Jamaican Sprinter Usain Bolt created an unprecedented record of a triple treble (first athlete to win 9 gold medals in sprinting events of Olympics) by winning third Gold medal in Rio Olympics 2016.
•The 21-year-old Sindhu joined shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vijay Kumar and wrestler Sushil Kumar to win the Olympic silver for India.
•Freestyle wrestler Sakshi Malik (23) won India’s first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by clinching the bronze in the 58kg category.
•Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta has won the 20th Commonwealth Chess championship crown 2016 held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
•Gymnast Dipa Karmakar (22) created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the apparatus finals of artistic Gymnastics at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
New Appointments
•The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has decided to appoint Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu as its honorary commandant and brand ambassador.
•Wrestler Sakshi Malik was named as Haryana’s brand ambassador for Beti Bachao, Beti Padao (save daughter, educate daughter) campaign in Haryana.
•VP Singh Badnore (69) has sworn in as the new Governor Punjab and also as Administrator of Chandigarh.
•Justice Manjula Chellur has sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. She succeeded CJ Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela who has retired.
•Dr. Najma Heptulla was sworn-in as the 18th Governor of Manipur. She replaced Shanmuganathan who was holding the dual charge of Governor of Meghalaya and Manipur.
•Union Government has appointed Urjit Patel (52) as new Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will be 24th Governor of RBI He will have tenure of three years and shall succeed Raghuram Rajan.
•Mr Vijay Rupani (60) has sworn in as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat after Anandiben Patel had resigned from the post on August 3, 2016.
•Private sector lender IDFC Bank has appointed former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Anand Sinha on its board as an independent director.
Awards
•Eminent Dogri language Poetess and novelist Padma Sachdev was awarded the prestigious Saraswati Samman for the year 2015.
•It was an overwhelming Olympic flavour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan as President Pranab Mukherjee honoured the medallists from Rio — P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik — apart from Olympic finalists, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai, with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
•Senior DRDO scientist Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy was awarded the first IEI-IEEE Award for Engineering Excellence-2015.
•Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (31) has won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for the year 2015-16.
•Hindi scholar and writer Sunita Jain was conferred with the prestigious 25th Vyas Samman 2015. She was presented with the award by West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi.
•Prominent film actor Kamal Haasan (61) has been selected by France for its prestigious Chevalier de L’Ordre Arts et Lettres.
Science and Technology
•The second 1,000 MW capacity reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) was successfully synchronised to the southern power grid.
•The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the first time has successfully conducted the Scramjet (or Supersonic Combusting ramjet) engine test.
•NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft has successfully executed its first flyby of Jupiter, our solar system’s most massive planet.
•For the first time, researchers have decoded and predicted the brain activity patterns of word meanings within sentences.
•Scientists for the first time have developed LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) from fluorescent jellyfish proteins that were grown in bacteria.
•Scientists from have discovered Gymnothorax indicus (proposed name Indian unpatterened moray), a new species of eel (a snake-like fish) in the northern Bay of Bengal region along the West Bengal coast.
•Tech giant Intel has unveiled Project Alloy, a device that creates merged reality.
•Researchers from the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavanagar, Gujarat have developed photocatalyst that can completely degrade three industrial dyes in the presence of sunlight.
•One of the treatment modalities for cancer is hyperthermia. This is a method by which the temperature of a region containing tumour cells is raised above normal levels. Exposing cells to elevate temperature leads to cytotoxicity.
•Gujarat Industries Power Company (GIPCL) entered into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Solar Energy Corporation of India for solar power projects in Gujarat.
Death
•Indian-origin former Singapore President S.R. Nathan passed away days after suffering a stroke. He was 92.
•Noted Odia actor and director Gobind Tej passed away while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He was 88.
•T.K.V Desikachar, son of Indian yoga master T.Krishnamacharya , passed away in Chennai. He was 78.
•Eminent Assamese litterateur Mahim Bora died due to old age problems in Guwahati, Assam. He was 92.
Special Days
•The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is observed every year on 9 August to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population.
•The National Handloom Day is being observed annually on 7 August to honour the handloom weavers in the country and also carter an impetus to India’s handloom industry.
Current Affairs 31st August, 2016 Current Affairs Round Up Bullet Points, July, 2016 Current Affairs Round Up Bullet Points, June, 2016
Join The Discussion