29 August 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. National Sports Day being observed today
- The National Sports Day is observed every year on 29th August to mark the birthday of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand (born on 29 August 1905).
- Padma Bhushan Dhyan chand Known as ‘The Magician’ of hockey for his superb ball control and extraordinary goal-scoring feats.
- He won three Olympic gold medals in Hockey field in the years 1928, 1932, and 1936.
- In his Sports career spanning over 22 years, he scored over 400 goals.
- On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind presented the National Sports Awards, National Adventure Awards and other awards including Arjuna, Khel Ratna to celebrate the exceptional achievements of Indian athletes.
- IPS Officer Aparna Kumar will be honoured with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2018 in the ‘Land adventure’ category.
- Today, PM Narendra Modi has launched ‘Fit India Movement’ at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
- Fit India Movement is aimed at encouraging people to give priority to sports and fitness in their day-to-day lives.
- Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August 1905 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
- The Union Government proclaimed 29 August as the country’s National Sports Day in 2012 to commemorate Major Dhyan Chand and his achievements in the field of sports.
2. 29th August: International Day against Nuclear Tests
- The International Day against Nuclear Tests is being observed every year on 29th August to brings public awareness and education about the effects of global nuclear weapon tests.
- The day was established on 2nd December 2009 at the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly by the resolution 64/35, which was adopted unanimously.
National Affairs
3. Rajnath Singh inaugurates 26th Kisan-Jawan - Vigyan Mela in Ladakh
- Defence minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated 26th Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela in Leh.
- The event is being organised to share research-generated farming technology with locals of Ladakh to make their life easier.
- Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela showcasing crops and grains suitable for growing in high altitude areas.
- The science fair is being organised at the Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research (a research unit of DRDO in Ladakh).
4. Govt to set up 75 new medical colleges in the next three years
- The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of 75 new Medical Colleges by 2021-22.
- The move will add 15,700 more MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) seats in the country.
- These medical colleges will be established in under-served areas having no such colleges with at least 200 bedded district hospitals.
- Preference will be given to Aspirational districts and district hospitals having 300 beds.
- The NITI Aayog has recommended the replacement of the Medical Council of India (MCI) with National Medical Commission (NMC).
- The decision has been approved by most states and after its approval by the Prime Minister and NMC bill was passed by parliament and approved by President on 8th August 2019.
5. India first in the world to launch facial biometric data-based identity document
- India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID) capturing the facial biometric data of seafarers.
- Mansukh Mandaviya (Minister of State for Shipping) has launched the project in New Delhi.
- The total number of Indian seafarers are employed on Indian or foreign flag vessels increased from over one and a half lakh in 2017 to over two lakhs this year.
- The new document will give a foolproof identification to our seafarers which will facilitate their movement, provide ease of getting jobs and help in identifying them from any location in the world.
- Nine data collection centres have been set up at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Noida, Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Vizag and Kandla for the issue of BSID.
- Every Indian seafarer who possesses a valid Continuous Discharge Certificate issued by the government will be eligible for issue of a BSID.
- The total number of existing Indian seafarers who will be required to be issued BSIDs is around 3,50,000.
- All the existing seafarers will be given BSID within the next two years.
6. HM Amit Shah flag off the first fleet of eco-friendly electric buses in Ahmedabad
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah flag off the first fleet of eco-friendly electric buses in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
- Mr Shah also inaugurated the country's first automated battery charging and swapping station for e-buses in Ahmedabad.
- Mr. Amit Shah has also flagged off 18 electric buses with a facility of battery swap technology.
- Thirty-two more such state-of-the-art buses would also join this BRTS fleet taking the total number of such e- buses to 50.
- Normal electric buses can run up to 200 km per charge, buses with swap facility can run only up to 40 km.
- Mr. Shah also inaugurated the battery swap facilities with robotic arm- in the city on this occasion.
- Electric buses (store the electricity onboard) can be fed continuously from an external source.
7. Bollywood film 'Mission Mangal' gets GST exemption in Maharashtra
- Maharashtra government has decided to grant exemption from the state Goods and Services Tax (GST) to Bollywood film 'Mission Mangal', which is about the ISRO's successful Mangalyaan mission.
- The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in Mumbai.
- The film conveys a positive message about science and to take the message further to common people.
- ‘Mission Mangal’ is loosely based on the life of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) who contributed to the Mars Orbiter Mission, India's first interplanetary expedition.
- Mission Mangal is Indian Hindi-language film (released - 15 August 2019) directed by Jagan Shakti and jointly produced by Cape of Good Films, Hope Productions, Fox Star Studios, Aruna Bhatia, and Anil Naidu.
- GST rate on movie tickets: below Rs 100 - 12% & above Rs 100 - 18%.
Appointment
8. Wing Commander S Dhami becomes the first female officer to become Flight Commander
- Indian Air Force's Wing Commander S Dhami has become the first female officer in the country to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit.
- Recently, Dhami took over as Flight Commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon airbase
- She is a permanent commission officer of the flying branch in the Air Force and has been flying choppers.
- Flight Commander is the second in command of the unit meaning that she is the number two in the unit after the commanding officer.
Honour & Awards
9. Indian documentary ‘I’m Jeeja’ wins the top award at We Care Film Festival
- Indian documentary film 'I'm Jeeja' has won the top award in the 'Under 30 minute' category at the 14th edition of the ‘We Care Film Festival on Disability Issues’.
- The film tells the story of specially-abled activist Jeeja Ghosh who suffers from cerebral palsy.
- The documentary directed by Swati Chakraborty attempts to explore the lives and battles of people living with the disability.
- Another Indian film “Post Dark” received a jury mention in ‘Under 5 minutes’ category.
- A total of 36 films were selected for the finals out of which 10 films were awarded in different categories.
- The festival is co-founded by UNESCO, United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan, and a New Delhi-based NGO, Brotherhood.
- The awards were given in categories based on the duration of the film - under five minutes, 30 minutes, and 90 minutes.
10. The web portal of higher education teachers, academicians launched
- Maharashtra Higher & Technical Education Minister Vinod Tawde has launched the database portal 'academisthan.com' to serve as a resource centre for educational institutions to make better policy decisions.
- The portal will serve as a resource centre for educational institutions in government, semi-government and private sectors to develop their policies and other activities.
- This will open a new window of resources for educational institutes.
- The database will help in providing requisite information to government agencies, NGOs and others to aid in making policy decisions, perspective plans and allocation of resources related to higher education.
- The exhaustive database, aimed at aiding teachers' outreach and engagements beyond their institutional geographies,
- It is an initiative of chancellor's nominee in the University of Mumbai's management council Deepak Kumar Mukadam.
11. Govt permits 100% FDI in coal mining, associated infrastructure
- The Union Cabinet has relaxed Foreign Direct Investment rule for foreign single-brand retailers and permitted foreign investment in contract manufacturing and coal mining.
- 26% FDI has also been allowed under government route for uploading and streaming of News and Current Affairs through Digital Media.
- Briefing reporters after the Union Cabinet meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that 100 per cent FDI under automatic route in coal mining and associated infrastructure has been approved.
- On FDI in single-brand retailing, the Cabinet has expanded the definition of a mandatory 30% domestic sourcing norm.
- It also allowed single-brand retailers to start on-line sales, waiving the previous condition of setting up a mandatory brick-and-mortar store.
Sports
12. West Indies fast bowler Cecil Wright retires at 85 years
- West Indies pacer Cecil Wright (85-years) has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
- Wright made his first-class debut for Jamaica against a Barbados side which had legends Wes Hall and Sir Garfield Sobers.
- He claims to have taken over 7,000 wickets in professional cricket.
- Wright’s longest purple patch span five seasons as he ended up taking as many as 538 wickets in five seasons.
