08 September 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

The International Literacy Day (ILD) is being observed on 8th September every year throughout the world to raise public awareness to eradicate illiteracy and create an environment in favor of adult education programs.
This year’s theme is ‘Literacy and skills development.’
This year's theme explores integrated approaches that simultaneously support the development of literacy and skills, to ultimately improve people’s lives and work and contribute to equitable and sustainable societies.

Note:

The UNESCO in its 14th Session in 26th October 1966, declared 8th September as the International Literacy Day.
In the last Census held in 2011, the country has achieved a literacy rate of around 73%.

Obituaries

Hollywood actor ‘Burt Reynolds’ (82-years) passed away in a Florida hospital, US.
Reynolds was a huge box office attraction in the 1970s.
He shot to fame in 1972's Hollywood film 'Deliverance', and also starred in Smokey and the Bandit, Boogie Nights and The Cannonball Run.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will set the timeline to reduce LIC's shareholding in IDBI Bank from 51% to 15%.
This move will take place only after looking at LIC’s business plan post-acquisition of 51 per cent in debt-ridden IDBI Bank.
LIC holds 7.98 % in IDBI bank and is in process of increasing its stake to 51 %, which would help it enter the banking space.
Currently, the permissible limit for insurance companies to hold the stake in any listed entity is 15 %.

The Union Government has appointed Anshula Kant as the Managing Director of the State Bank of India (SBI).
Currently, she is the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SBI.
With this appointment, SBI has four MDs - PK Gupta, DK Khara and Arijit Basu.

Assam govt. has made Asian Games medalist Hima Das as the Sports Ambassador of the state.
Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal handed over a cheque of 1.6 crore rupees to Hima at a function in Guwahati.
Recently, Hima won 3 medals in concluded Asian Games.

Two antique statues worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (USD 225,000) stolen from India and displayed at two American museums have been repatriated to India by the US.
The first statue, ‘Lingodhbhavamurti’, a 12th-century granite sculpture depicting an iconic representation of Lord Shiva, dates back to the Chola dynasty.
It was stolen from Tamil Nadu and was on display at the Birmingham Museum in Alabama.
The second phyllite sculpture depicts the bodhisattva of wisdom, ‘Manjusri’, holding a sword and painted in gold leaf.
This statue was stolen from a temple in Bihar in the late 1980s.

Ministry of Railways & Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has organized a seminar on “Leveraging IT for Mobility” in New Delhi.

Shri Piyush Goyal (Minister of Railways & Coal) graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.
Shri Goyal also launched a new app – “AAPOORTI’ mobile App of ‘Indian Railways e-procurement system’ (IREPS).
This App provides information and data related to e-tendering and e-auction related activities of Indian Railways.

Indian movie 'Gold' has become the first Bollywood film ever to release in Saudi Arabia.
The film Gold is a fictional re-telling of India's iconic win at the 1948 London Olympics.
This film is only the second movie after Rajnikanth's social drama "Kala" to hit the theatres in the Gulf country.
Saudi Arabia had held a private screening of international cultural phenomenon, "Black Panther" in May this year to herald the launch of movie theatres in the kingdom and opening them to the public.

The Embassy of India held a ceremony in Haifa to mark the Centenary of the Battle of Haifa.
The ceremony was attended by a delegation from India led by Maj Gen VD Dogra and included personnel from the 61st Cavalry.
The Battle of Haifa was fought on 23 September 1918 towards the end of the Battle of Sharon which together with the Battle of Nablus formed the set piece Battle of Megiddo.

American actress Anne Hathaway (‘Bride Wars’ actress) will be honored with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) National Equality Award for her humanitarian work that she has done for the society.
Earlier, Hathaway was also appointed as UN Women`s Global Ambassador, where her work involves supporting women’s equality in the workplace.

India's Saurabh Chaudhary (16-year) clinched the 10 meters Air Pistol Junior gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shooting World Championship in Changwon, South Korea.
Arjun Singh Cheema claimed bronze in the same event with a score of 218 while Korea’s Hojin Lim clinched silver.
India also picked up a silver medal in the junior men's trap team competition.