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Current Affairs Today – August 28 2017

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We are here for you to provide the important current affairs of August 28 2017 which have unique updates of all daily events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, India Today, Indian Express, Business Standard, all Government official websites. Our complete current affairs helps you to get more marks in Banking, insurance, UPSC, SSC, CLAT, Railway and all other competitive Exams.

Current-Affairs-August-28-2017

Indian Affairs

Arun Jaitley hands over LRSAM to Indian Navy
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over the Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) jointly developed by India and Israel, to the Indian Navy at Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) at Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad. The first batch of LRSAM, being inducted into the Navy, was symbolically handed over to Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, the vice-chief of naval staff.LRSAM
i. The Rocket Motor Static Test Facility was dedicated to the nation by Arun Jaitley at BDL’s Ibrahimpatnam Complex located near Hyderabad. An amount of 48 Crores spent on this facility.
ii. The Union Minister inaugurated ASTRA Manufacturing Facility. Astra weapon system is an indigenously developed Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile developed by DRDO. It comprises of Astra Launcher and Astra Missile. It is designed as a BVR missile with a range of 110 Km in head-on mode and 20 Km in tail-chase mode. BVR missiles are the latest in air to air combat.
iii. He also inaugurated the 5 MW Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Power Project at BDL, Bhanur Unit, Telangana State. As part of Govt of India’s Jawarharlal Nehru National Solar Mission(JNNSM). Click here to view more details……

Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba on 5-day visit to India
Nepal’s PM Sher Bahadur Deuba made his maiden visit to India as prime minister. Eventhough India and Nepal has some areas of concern in recent days his arrival confirmed Kathmandu’s abiding interest in strong ties with India.
i.India and Nepal signed eight memorandums of understanding (MoUs)
ii.Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Visits Infosys,T-Hub and Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad.
iii.Key issue that poses a threatto India – Nepal relations
…..Click here to view complete detail

Arun Jaitley inaugurates manufacture of light combat helicopter at HAL
On August 26 2017 Defence minister Arun jaitley, inaugurates the 5.8-tonne category Light Combat Helicopter(LCH) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) design upgrade program (Hawk – i) to our nation at HAL(bengaluru)
Background:

  • On November 7, 2016, the defence ministry had cleared Rs 2,911-crore for the procurement of 15 LCHs as a “limited series production” (LSP) order. These LCHs are built at HAL’s Bengaluru helicopter complex
  • The army ordered 114 LCHs, and the air force another 65, which will be built at helicopter production facility in Tumku.
  • The cost per LCH is 231 crores as per 2017-2018 prices.Click here to view complete detail

Karnataka tourism dept launches Dasara package on Golden Chariot
Karnataka’s Department of Tourism has announced Dasara Special Tour Packages announced on 28th of Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.The department has planned to launch the ‘Dasara Special Tour Package’ in the Golden Chariot Luxury Train, to promote the state festival.
ii.The Golden Chariot is South India’s first and only luxury tourist train run by Karnataka State Tourist Department Corporation (KSTDC).
iii.Dasara Special Trips include a two night and one day package at a subsided rate of Rs 25,000 per person (for Indians) and Rs 40, 000 for foreigners.
iv.The package includes of accommodation, meals, sightseeing and Mysuru Palace events.
v.The Golden Chariot has 44 luxury cabins that can accommodate 88 people.
vi.The first trip will run from September 23 to 25, and the second from 29th September to 1st October.GOLDEN_CHARIOT
vii.The train will depart from Yeshwantpur railway station in Bengaluru at night on the first day of the journey and return to Bengaluru early in the morning on the third day.
viii.KSTDC will provide an excellent opportunity to people to experience royalty on board, which would showcase the Nadahabba, the Mysuru Dasara and its grandeur.
ix.This would be a unique opportunity for people to witness Dasara and cultural programmes as a royal guest and also experience the great train journey at a subsidised cost.

International Affairs

India, Germany sign pact to improve grid integration of renewable energy
India and Germany has signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC) on 28th Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.The agreement was signed by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy(MNRE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of Germany.
ii.The main aim of this programme is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energy.
iii.It will help in training manpower in India to ensure grid stability and ensure more and more integration of renewables in the country.
iv.GIZ and MNRE will work on improving market mechanisms and regulations for integration of renewable energies, advancing technical and institutional conditions in specified target states, regions and on a national level.
v.For over 60 years, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has been working jointly with partners in India for sustainable economic, ecological, and social development.
About Germany
Capital: Berlin
President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Chancellor: Angela Merkel

France holds migrant summit seeking European unity
The main focus of a summit of Europe’s ‘big four’ continental powers is getting Europe’s migrant crisis under control. It is hosted on 28th of Aug 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Key Points:
i.French president has also invited three African nations to the talks held in Paris.
ii.The meeting hosts the leaders Germany, Italy and Spain as well as the leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya, aimed to assess the situation.
iii.European foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will also attend the meeting and emphasise the importance of an united European front on the matter.
iv.Leaders at the meeting will presented a migration action plan, notably on tackling the economic model of people traffickers.
v.The leaders will be presented a roadmap that outline to do to tackle all stages of the migrant route.
vi.The roadmap would include ideas on fighting people traffickers, asylum rights and stabilizing chaotic Libya.
About France
Capital: Paris
President: Emmanuel Macron
PM: Edouard Philippe

Business

Government imposes Anti-dumping duty on sodium nitrite imports from China for five year
The Finance Ministry has imposed a five year anti-dumping duty on Sodium Nitrite imports from Chinaannounced on 26th of Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.It was imposed based on recommendations of Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).
ii.The revenue department has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty of $ 72.95 per tonne on Sodium Nitrite imports from China.
iii.There are two more producers of Sodium Nitrite in the country – National Fertilisers Ltd and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited.
iv.Sodium Nitrite is an oxidising and also a reducing agent.
v.It is a white crystalline powder mostly used in the pharmaceutical and dye industries, lubricants, lubricants, construction chemicals, rubber blowing agent, meat processing, and textiles.
vi.Countries impose anti-dumping duties to safeguard domestic industry from a surge in below-cost imports.
About China
Capital: Beijing
Currency: Renminbi
President: Xi Jinping

Uber introduces two new features –‘In-app chat’ and ‘multi destination’
Uber has announced a two new features namely ‘In-app chat’ and ‘multi-destination’ option in India announced on 28th Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.The in-app chat feature aims to help riders and driver partners get in touch with one another to detect their exact location through chats inside the app.
ii.The chat feature will enable to coordinate faster pickup, since users don’t have to switch between apps to make calls.
iii.Both riders and driver partners will see if their chats are delivered and read.
iv.This feature also allows various language options for both riders and drivers.
v.Users will have the option of picking from their local language as well on the chat feature.
vi.Uber in-app chat works when a rider is connected to a driver through Uber feed.
vii.This is also effective in POOL trips, where a driver can identify, which rider sent the chat.
viii.Riders and drivers will be aware of the delivery of their messages, and know when it has been read.
Multi-destination’ Feature
i.‘
Multi-destination’ feature will let riders add multiple stops along their route.
ii.While booking the ride, the rider must type the first location in ‘Where To’.
iii.From there, additional locations can be added by tapping on the ‘+’ symbol and then entering the other locations on the ‘Where To’ box.
iv.This feature also allows riders to add or remove stops during the trip.

 

Appointments & Resigns

Dipak Misra sworn in as 45th Chief Justice of India
Justice Dipak Misra has sworn 45th Chief Justice of India at a brief ceremony in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.  He will succeed Chief Justice JS Khehar.
Key Points:
i.Chief Justice Misra will hold office for the next 13 months, till 2nd October 2018.
ii.His oath was administered by President Ram Nath Kovind on 28th of Aug 2017.
iii.He led the Supreme Court bench that confirmed death to four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case in May 2016.
iv.Justice Misra enrolled as an Advocate on 14th February 1977.
v.He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1996 and was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1997.45th cheif justice
vi.He became a permanent Judge in December, 1997.
vii.Justice Misra assumed charge of the office of Chief Justice, Patna High Court in 2009 and later became the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in 2010.
viii.He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 10th October 2011.
ix.Justice Misra was also among the three judges giving a historic hearing to decide on terrorist Yakub Memon’s last-minute appeal against his hanging.
x.Memon was convicted in 1993 Mumbai blasts, in which 257 people were killed.

Acquisitions & Mergers

HCL Tech completes acquisition of UFS
HCL Technologies has completed the acquisition of Urban Fulfilment Services, LLC on 25th Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.The acquisition has been completed with effect from August 24, 2017.
ii.It will be acquiring 100% stake in UFS, and that the total cash consideration for this transaction is up to USD 30 million.
iii.UFS was founded in 2002 and has over 350 employees and operates out of three centres in the US.
iv.The acquisition of UFS will bring its capability in mortgage BPO services, loan fulfilment and debt servicing space.
About HCL
HCL Technologies Limited is an Indian multinational IT services company, headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Founded on 11th Aug 1976
Chairman: Shiv Nadar
President &CEO: C. Vijayakumar

Airtel ties up with Symantec for cyber security solutions
India’s mobile operator Bharati Airtel tied up with US cyber security firm Symantec to provide cyber security solutions in India.
Issue:
i. Recent wannacry and petraware ransom attacks poses a threat to India’s cyber security.
ii. It has been identified that the Petya ransomware targeted India’s largest container port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
iii. Ransomware WannaCry had crippled systems worldwide and affected around around 99 countries, including India.Airtel ties up
How this ties will serve as quick fix ??
i. Through the partnership with Symantec, Airtel will help its enterprise customers to secure their systems.
ii. As Indian enterprises handle cloud applications , they require security technologies built for this new cloud-based environment.
iii. On the other hand the company plans to leverage its strength in Business to Business (B2B) segment so it’s a win -win situation for both firms.

Science & Technology

CSIR-NIIST develop new technique to produce bio ethanol from cotton-stalks
Scientists from CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram have been able to turn waste into wealth and have produced ethanol from discarded cotton-stalks by using a combination of chemical and biological techniques.
Key Notes:
i.The stalks were first treated with an acid, alkali and different enzymes to breakdown the complex organic polymers of the stalk.
ii.India has produced about 9.4 million hectares under cotton cultivation and every hectare generates 2 million tonnes of cotton stalk wastes. The results were published in Bioresource Technology.
iii.It will convert the agro-residues such as cotton stalks and wheat and rice husks etc to ethanol.
iv.The acid helps to remove hemicellulose, a polymer of the cell wall and the alkali extracts lignin, a binding matrix in the cell wall, made of complex phenolics.
v.These treatments expose cellulose, the major component made of glucose to the action of enzymes.
vi.The cellulose was further treated using enzymes to convert it into glucose.
vii.To convert the glucose into ethanol, fermentation using a novel yeast strain was carried out.
viii.The yeast showed a glucose conversion efficiency of 76% and the entire glucose was utilised by the yeast in just 24 hours and converted into alcohol.
ix.The final alcohol obtained can be made to fuel grade bioethanol have greater than 99% purity after distillation and dehydration using molecular sieves.
Bioethanol
Bioethanol has many advantages over conventional fuels as it comes from a renewable resource.
It is mandatory to blend 10% ethanol with petrol.
Bioethanol presently in use is obtained by fermentation of sugar cane molasses which is a byproduct of sugar production, and has food value.

Vice President launches Sports Talent Search Portal
The Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu has launched the National Sports Talent Search Portal at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. It is a government initiative to bring sporting talent from every nook and corner of the country announced on 28th Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.Under the initiative, a child or his parents, teachers or coaches can upload his bio data or video on the portal.
ii.The portal will be available in English and other regional languages so that it is easier for any boy or girl who is talented in a particular sport to upload his or her achievements from any part of the country.
iii.The portal will also be available as App which can be downloaded on smartphones.
iv.The Sports Ministry will select talented players and transmit training to them at Sports Authority India centres.
v.The platform of National Sports Talent Search Portal will enable the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India select the best.
vi.This initiative will help in identifying the best talent and will also provide a level playing field to all the applicants and create a competitive environment.
vii.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also talked about the National Talent Search Portal at his Man ki Baat radio programme.
viii.The ministry has also decided to introduce 1000 scholarships of Rs 5 lakh each for eight years.
ix.VP has also praised shuttler P V Sindhu for winning the silver medal in the World Championships.

IIT Bombay and Indore researchers developed biosensor to detect kidney disorders
Researchers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Bombay and Indore, have jointly developed a biosensor to detect kidney disorders in less than eight minutes.
Key Points:
i.The biosensor can accurately measure both the pH and urea concentration with a single drop of urine.
ii.It will help make a point-of-care test to determine whether the kidneys are functioning normally.
iii.The study was funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Its results have been published in the journal, Scientific Reports.KIDNEY
iv.It is developed by three researchers-Rashmi Chaudhari, Abhijeet Joshi, and Rohit Srivastava.
About Biosensor
i
.It is made by encapsulating an enzyme urease and a molecule FITC-dextran in alginate microspheres.
ii.The combination glows in response to chemical reaction with urea and changes in pH when urine is added.
iii.The fluorescence reduces when the pH is acidic and increases when it is alkaline.
iv.The change in fluorescence intensity helps to calculate the values of pH and urea.
Merits of the Biosensor Test
i.The biosensor is made using alginate and it is safe and non-toxic to handle.
ii.It can work in the ideal pH range of 4-8 and is able to detect even low concentrations of urea up to 50 millimolar.
iii.Tests have revealed the accuracy of the biosensor to be more than 97%.
iv.It can help make rapid and accurate point-of-care diagnostic test for kidney disorders.

Sports

23rd BWF World Championship-2017 At Glasgow ( Scotland)
The 23rd BWF world championship was held in Glasgow, Scotland from 21 – 27 August 2017 at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow.
The BWF World Championships is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament offers the most ranking points, together with Summer Olympic Games. The winners will be crowned as the “World Champions” and awarded gold medals. However, it does not offer any prize money.
Winners of 23rd BWF World Campionship-2017  :BWF
i. Men’s Singles –viktor axelsen of Denmark . Viktor Axelsen claimed Denmark’s first men’s singles gold in 20 years at the badminton World Championships after he beat China’s Lin Dan .LIN DAN  is a two-time Olympic champion and five-time World champion.
ii. Women’s Singles –Nozomi Okuhara of Japan. The final match was between Nozomi and P.V Sindhu . It was toughest one with score of 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 in final.Nozomi won bronze medal in 2016 Olympic.
i.Gold- Nozomi [Japan]
ii.Silver- P.V Sindhu [ India]
iii.Bronze- Saina Nehwal [India]
P.V.Sindhu became a second Indian to win silver medal in BWF world championship.
Click here to view more details……

India win SAFF under 15 Championship against Nepal
The Indian U-15 football team defeated Nepal to win the SAFF U-15 Championships in Kathmandu on 27th of Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.India beat Nepal by 2-1 in the final and the match took place at ANFA Complex, Lalitpur in Nepal.
ii.The goals from Lalrokima and Vikram guided India to a deserving 2-1 victory.
iii.The motive behind the U-15 is to allow teams to be better prepared for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 qualifiers to be held in 2017.
About U-15 SAFFSAF
i.The 2017 SAFF U-15 Championship will be the 4th edition of the SAFF U-16 Championship, an international football competition for men’s under-15 national teams organized by SAFF.
ii.The tournament will be hosted by Nepal from 18–27 of August, 2017 at ANFA Complex, Satdobato and Halchowk Stadium.
iii.Six teams from the region are taking part, divided into two groups.
iv.Champion-India
Runners-up-Nepal
Third place-Bangladesh
Fourth place-Bhutan