CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC & OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS 29 August 2020

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC & OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS

 29 August 2020 

1. National Sports Day

1.1    In India, National Sports Day is celebrated every year on 29th August to give tribute to Major Dhyanchand on his birth anniversary.

1.2      Major Dhyanchand, the legendary hockey player was born on 29th August 1905.

1.3      He won gold medals in Olympics for India in 1928, 1932 & 1936. He scored over 400  goals in his career from 1926 to 1948.

 

2. Chadwick Boseman, ‘Black Panther’, died of cancer

2.1    Chadwick Boseman, who got fame as the ‘Black Panther’ in the Marvel Cinematic  Universe died of colon cancer at the age of 43  

3. Dronacharya Award recipient, Purshottam Rai, passed away

3.1     Purshottam Rai, track & field coach passed away at the age of 79.

3.2  He got selected for the Dronacharya Award (lifetime category), and was due to receive the prestigious award from the President Ram Nath Kovind.

4. DEA holds Sustainable Finance Collaborative Consultation with UNDP

4.1  The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, launched the Sustainable Finance Collaborative in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

5. BPR&D celebrated its 50th anniversary on 28 August 2020

5.1     The Bureau of Police & Research Development, (BPR&D), was set up on 28 August 1970.

       5.2    The objective of its formulation is to modernize the police force.

       5.3     It has four divisions, Research, Development, Training & Correctional Administration.

       5.4 Headquarters is in Delhi, India.

       5.5      Parent Agency- Ministry of Home Affairs.

6. 14th India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue held via video conferencing

6.1     The 14th India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue was held via video conferencing.

6.2      Both sides committed to enhance the security partnership between the two countries.

7. IT Minister launches “Chunauti”- Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest

7.1  The Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has launched “Chunauti”- Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest.

7.2    It aims to identify around 300 startups working in identified areas and will provide funding to them up to Rs. 25 lakh and other facilities.

7.3    The areas of work will be - Edu-Tech, Agri-Tech & Fin-Tech Solutions for masses, Supply Chain, Logistics & Transportation Management, Infrastructure & Remote monitoring, Medical Healthcare, Diagnostics, Preventive & Psychological Care, Jobs & Skilling, linguistic tools & technologies.

7.4     The govt. Has allotted Rs. 95.03 crore over a period of three years for this program.

7.5    It will boost startups and software products with a special focus on Tier- II towns of India.

7.6    The Minister has also laid the foundation stone of the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology at Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

8. Online Dashboard of PM SVANidhi launched

8.1   The online dashboard of PM SVANidhi has launched by the Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

8.2   The dashboard will be the one-stop solution to all the stakeholders looking for information and tracking monitoring of the progress of PM SVANidhi up to city level

9. Mizoram’s Champhai jolted by an earthquake of 3.7 magnitude

9.1    The National Centre for Seismology informed that an earthquake of 3.7 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted the Mizoram’s Champhai.

10. Twitter to limit the visibility of ‘Copypasta’ tweets

10.1  Copypasta tweets are those tweets that have been copied and pasted without any modifications from the source text.

10.2    According to twitter, there has been an increase in such types of tweets.

11. Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe resigns due to health issues

11.1   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has resigned from the post over health issues.

11.2   He is the longest-serving Japanese Prime Minister.

12. Joe Rubby, Scooby Dooby Doo creator passed away at 87

12.1  Joe Rubby, an American animator, who created the famous cartoon series ‘Scooby-Doo’ passed away at 87.

13. Hubble Telescope maps halo surrounding the Andromeda galaxy

13.1    NASA’s Hubble telescope has mapped the big envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy.

13.2    The halo extends 1.3 million light-years away from the galaxy.

14. IIT Hyderabad launches most affordable respirator mask

14.1  IIT-Hyderabad Centre fro Healthcare Entrepreneurship startup USafe claims to have developed the world’s most affordable respirator mask, US9.

14.2  The US9 has filtration rates considered better than N95 standards.

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