August 2018 Current Affairs

August 2018 Current Affairs - Latest Current Affairs

Latest Current Affairs 2018 for competitive exams UPSC, AFCAT, TNPSC, IAS, RRB and Latest Affairs 2018 for banking exams IBPS PO Clerk, SBI, RBI and more. Read daily affairs, this beneficial Affairs 2018 resource yields the facts about the events of International affairs, National, Sports, Business, Banking Current Affairs of 2018 and more which are betterment for the Government & Private Job aspirants.

August 2018 Current Affairs

August 2018 Current Affairs:

National Current Affairs - 

*    In a tribute to the late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Chhattisgarh Cabinet approved the proposal to rename Naya Raipur as 'Atal Nagar'. Chief Minister Raman Singh made the announcement after a Cabinet meeting.  The Bilaspur University will be known as Atal Bihari Vajpayee University while the Narrow-Gauge Line will be called Atal Path.

*    India and Singapore signed the Second Protocol amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in New Delhi which will boost bilateral trade between the two countries.

*    India and Germany signed an agreement on financial and technical cooperation focusing on sustainable urban development and renewable energy.

*    AIBD India elected as the President of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) for a period of two years. India got elected against Iran. Director General of All India Radio F. Sheheryar re-elected as chair of the executive board while Sri Lanka was elected as vice-chair.

*    Union Government unlocked green funds worth over Rs. 66,000 crores to increase the country’s forest cover.

*    Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has rolled out the Smart City projects that will help New Delhi emerge as a world-class city. The projects are undertaken by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

*    National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank (NWGRB) was inaugurated at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology’s (CCMB) Laboratory of Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) facility in Hyderabad, Telangana. It is India’s first genetic resource bank where the genetic material will be stored for posterity.

*    The Government of India has released 470 million Nepali rupees grant for Terai roads project in Nepal. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over a cheque of grant.

*    The Supreme Court ruled that the ‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option will not be applicable for voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. The ruling was made by a bench of Justices comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.

*    The Union Government, Rajasthan and the World Bank signed a USD 250 million Development Policy Loan (DPL) to support Rajasthan in improving the performance of its Electricity Distribution Sector under the State’s ‘24x7 Power for All’ program.

*    Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed an MoU with six states for the construction of Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna basin to deal with water crisis. CMs of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Vasundhara Raje Scindia), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar) and Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) signed the MoU. Under this, the 204-metres high project will be constructed near Uttarakhand's Lohari village with live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metres (MCM).

*    Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for setting up of a Special Investment Region (SIR) in northern Krishnagiri district to attract investments. It would be jointly developed by GMR Infrastructures Limited & Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (TIDCO).

*    The analysis titled The Urban Commute was released. It is analysed by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), to check how some cities, which hold sizeable shares of India’s urban population are positioned in the race for clean and low carbon mobility.  Bhopal tops for lowest overall emissions and energy use from urban commute.

*    In a big step forward to strengthen the startup ecosystem in Rajasthan, the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched India’s largest business incubator the Bhamashah Techno Hub in Jaipur.

*    Rajasthan become the first State in the country to implement the national policy on biofuels unveiled by the Centre this year.

*    The iconic Mughalsarai Railway Junction in Uttar Pradesh renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction Railway station. BJP National President Amit Shah inaugurated the renamed station.

*    The world's first-ever thermal battery plant was unveiled in Andhra Pradesh by the state’s Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. It is manufactured by the Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private Limited (BEST).

*    Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar flagged off the Goa Tourism Development Corporation’s app-based taxi service called ‘GOAMILES’ in Panaji.

*    Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad released the document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’ in Guwahati, Assam. It emphasizes leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of people of the northeast and enhance the ease of living.

*    Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh announced that Chhattisgarh is the first among the 28 other states in the country to provide Right to Skills’ Development to the youth.

*    Delhi Police inducted an all-woman Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, consisting of 36 commandos – the first ever by any police force in India – for anti-terrorist operations.

*    PM Modi inaugurated various projects in Junagadh district of Gujarat. These included the Government Civil Hospital, a milk processing plant and some buildings of the Junagadh Agriculture University.

International Current Affairs -

*    4th BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu, Nepal. The main focus was on countering terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and boosting trade. The theme was 'Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region'.

*    The First South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Agri Cooperative Business Forum held in Kathmandu, Nepal. The theme was ‘Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers’ Cooperatives to attain the Sustainable- Development-Goals-1 and 2 in South Asia’.

*    The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was held in Salta, Argentina. It took place as part of Sherpa Track for 2018 G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is to be hosted by Argentina by end of 2018. The theme was 'Building consensus for fair and sustainable development'.

*    In Sri Lanka, the fourth Asian electoral stakeholders forum (AESF-IV) begins in Colombo to discuss the state of elections and democracy in the region. It is being held for the first time in South Asia with support from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka and the Asian network for free elections (ANFREL). The theme was, ‘Advancing Election Transparency and Integrity: Promoting and Defending Democracy Together’.

*    The 8th meeting of India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee was held in Nairobi, Kenya.

*    The World Bank launched ‘bond-i', the world’s first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and managed by using distributed ledger technology. This two-year bond successfully raised 110 million Australian dollars (USD 80.48 million).

*    Treasurer Scott Morrison has been elected the new Prime Minister of Australia after winning an internal vote of 45-40 against former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. He will take over the charge as PM from Malcolm Turnbull.

*    Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet named 'KOWSAR' with President Hassan Rouhani.

*    France’s Parliament signed into law a controversial asylum and immigration bill. The bill is designed to accelerate asylum procedures by cutting the maximum processing time from the current 120 days to 90 days after entering France.

*    United States Congress passed the National Defense Authorisation Act-2019 (NDAA-19) which capped its security-related aid to Pakistan to $150 million, significantly below the historic level of more than $ 1 billion to $750 million per year.

*    External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated 'Panini Language Laboratory' at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) at Port Louis in Mauritius. She called on Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jagnauth and discussed further deepening of the special ties between the two nations.

*    In Sri Lanka, the ten-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera began in Kandy with a grand procession. The procession set off from the biggest Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka,  Sri Dalada Maligawa at an auspicious time.

*    Japan pipped China as the world's number two stock market, as per Bloomberg report. Both markets are ranked after the US which is the world's largest at just over $31 trillion.

*    Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong chaired the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Singapore.

*    UK government announced new plans to change the law for organ and tissue donation to address the urgent need for organs within the Indian-origin communities in the country.

*    Saudi Arabia announced that it is freezing all new trade and investment with Canada over its interference in its internal affairs.

*    Israel opened a Visa Application Centre in Kolkata for tourists from West Bengal and the northeastern states to encourage more Indian travelers to visit that country.

*    Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 held in Birgunj, Nepal. It was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Province 2 Mohammad Lalbabu Raut. The festival is aimed at strengthening Indo-Nepal ties.

*    Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh urged to Jose Graziano da Silva, the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) to declare the upcoming year as the ‘International Year of Millets’.

*    The 24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) was held in Beijing, China. It was organized by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies, and Peking University. Its theme was “Learning To Be Human”.

*    US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the Iran Action Group (IAG) to coordinate and run the country's policy towards Iran. Pompeo has named Brian Hook, the State Department's director of policy planning, as the group’s head.

*    Qatar King Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged to make direct investment in Turkey and announced a 15-billion US dollar investment into the country’s financial markets and banks.

Defence Current Affairs - 

*    INS Sahyadri entered the Port of Darwin, Australia to participate in Exercise KAKADU 2018. Exercise KAKADU, which started in 1993, is the premier multilateral regional maritime engagement exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and supported by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is held biennially in Darwin and the Northern Australian Exercise Areas (NAXA).

*    The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman accorded approval for procurement for the Services amounting to approximately Rs. 46,000 crores. The DAC in a landmark decision approved procurement of 111 Utility Helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs. 21,000 crores.

*    For the first time, India's only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be fitted with a marine hydraulic system to boost the air operations of the ship. Technodinamika, a subsidiary of Russia's Rostec State Corporation, will install the system in the Indian Navy ship by May 2019.

*    Exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018, the latest in 'Peace Mission' series formally started at Chebarkul, Russia. All the 8 member nations will participate in this exercise.

*    The NDRF has the biggest ever relief and rescue operation in flood-affected Kerala. A total of 58 teams have been deputed to work in the state out of which 55 are working on the ground. This is the highest ever deployment of NDRF in a single state since its raising in 2006. After the review, PM Modi announced a financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to the State. This is in addition to Rs. 100 Cr. announced by the Home Minister.

*    India successfully flight tested the indigenously developed helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ from Pokhran in Rajasthan. The weapon system tested for its full range was released smoothly from the launch platform. The missile hit the target with high precision.

*    The Indian and Thailand's armed forces concluded a two-week long platoon level military exercise called ‘Exercise Maitree 2018’ in Jammu & Kashmir’s Srinagar. The exercise was an annual event designed to strengthen the partnership between armies of the two countries.

*    The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) commenced at Subang Air Base in Malaysia.

*    DRDO conducted the successful test of the Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Area Defence (AAD) from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The endo-atmospheric missile, capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 kms was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1500 km class ballistic missile.

*    Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Defence India Startup Challenge in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Raksha Mantri also launched SPARK (support for prototype and research Kickstart) in defence, framework for IDEX partners, and promotion of start-ups under Make II procedure.

*    Exercise 'Maitree' is a joint military exercise between the Indian Army and Royal Thai Army which is running on in Thailand. It is a platoon level exercise which comprises of infantry component.

*    Pacific Endeavor-2018, a communication exercise under the Multinational Communications Interoperability Program (MCIP) started in Kathmandu, Nepal. The basic objective is to develop common communications operating procedures to enable military forces in the Asia Pacific region to collectively work in the wake of disaster.

*    As part of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) initiatives, SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for SCO member states. The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted by Central Military Commission of Russia at Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

*    Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a defence industrial corridor in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The move is part of the government’s efforts to develop specialised zones dedicated to defence production in the state.

Miscellaneous Current Affairs -

*    India's first biofuel-powered flight landed in Delhi, covering the distance between Dehradun & Delhi. It is developed by CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun. The flight test was successfully completed by SpiceJet.

*    Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) made public 13 standardised state-of-the-art ship designs suitable for large barge haulage on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). This marks attaining a critical milestone in the growth of the country’s Inland Water Transport (IWT) sector.

*    IT ministry launched a desktop software e-Aksharayan for Indian Languages Technology Industry ‘Bhashantara’, in New Delhi. The objective is to enable editing and printing of text in scanned documents.  The software e-Aksharayan launched in 7 Indian languages.

*    Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a logo & tagline for Geographical Indications (GI) to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country. The slogan is- 'Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India'.

*    The 123rd Constitutional Amendment Bill giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has got Parliamentary assent. It will give the institution all powers to safeguard the rights of the socially and educationally backward classes and fulfils a long pending commitment of the central govt to the OBCs. It seeks to establish the NCBC under the constitution with authority to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding OBCs. NCBC will have a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and 3 other members of which at least one will be a woman.

*    Minister of state for Culture (I/C), Dr Mahesh Sharma, released 3 books: ‘Jewellery’, ‘Ghats of Banaras’ and ‘Untold Story of Broadcasting’, at IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts), in New Delhi. ‘Jewellery’ was written by Dr Gulab Kothari. ‘Ghats of Banaras’ was written by Dr Sachidanand Joshi and ‘Untold Story of Broadcasting’ was written by Dr Gautam Chatterjee.

*    The Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (in Sikkim) has become the 11th Biosphere Reserve from India that has been included in the UNESCO designated World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).

*    Indian-American high school student Avi Goel has won the world championship at the International Geography Bee’s junior varsity division which was held in Berlin, Germany. 14-year old Avi is a tenth grader at Silver Creek High School in Evergreen, San Jose, California.

*    Santhali (Santali), a tribal language primarily spoken in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, received global recognition when it got a Wikipedia edition in its own script.

*    NITI Aayog launched “Pitch to MOVE” - a mobility pitch competition that aims to provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury.

*    In the wake of Prime Minister’s vision for creating digital museums at stations using QR code, Ministry of Railway has made “digital screens” operational at 22 stations on this Independence Day as an innovative low-cost solution to spread awareness among public about the opulent heritage of Indian Railways.

*    ISRO will outsource the production of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) to private Industries. Note: The ISRO will launch Gaganyaan, India’s first manned mission to outer space in 2020.

*    India’s first Indian human mission will be launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by 2022. The programme will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Missio, after USA, Russia and China. PM Modi announced `Gaganyaan — India's maiden human spaceflight programme'.

*    A new European satellite named 'Aeolus' using advanced laser technology to track global winds and improve weather forecasts has been successfully put into orbit on a Vega rocket from French Guyana.

*    Ranchi-based software developer Ranjit Srivastava is developing the world's first Hindi-speaking humanoid robot, claimed to cost just Rs50,000 so far.

*    India will launch its second lunar mission “Chandrayaan-2” on January 3, 2019, to land on the moon with a lander and rover. The 800-crore rupees is the cost of lunar mission named “Chandrayaan-2”. The 3,890-kg Chandrayaan-2, which will be launched onboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-3, will orbit around the moon.

*    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) blasted off a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun on a historic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms. NASA’s 'Parker Solar Probe' has become the first-ever mission to "touch" the Sun. The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere about 4 million miles from the surface.

*    The lander on the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which is scheduled to be launched in January 2019 will be named ‘Vikram’ after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian space programme.

New Appointments (National & International) -

*    Balesh Sharma takes over as Vodafone Idea's first CEO. He was the Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India and a member of its executive committee.

*    Veteran Indian development economist Satya S Tripathi has been appointed as the Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by UN Chief Antonio Guterres. He will replace Elliott Harris.

*    The Centre appointed renowned scientist, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, as Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Secretary in Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D).

*    Industry chamber Assocham appointed former bureaucrat Uday Kumar Varma as its new Secretary General. He succeeds DS Rawat who held the position for nearly 14 years.

*    Union Minister Arun Jaitley is back as the Finance Minister after a three-month interval to recuperate from a kidney transplant surgery.

*    Film actor Shri Akshay Kumar appointed as the Road Safety Brand Ambassador.

*    IAS officer K S Srinivas has taken over as Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

*    Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected for a five-year term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot.

*    Colorado Party’s Mario Abdo Benitez was sworn in as the new President of Paraguay for a five-year term.

*    Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan took oath as Pakistan's new prime minister.

*    Infosys Chief Financial Officer MD Ranganath, a veteran of nearly two decades at India’s second-largest software services company, has abruptly stepped down from his position.

*    Subhash Sheoratan Mundra has been appointed as Independent Director on the Board of Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IBHFL) for a period of three years. He was former Deputy Governor of RBI.

*    Supreme Court will have three serving women judges for the first time, after the Centre cleared the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee. The other two judges are R Banumathi, appointed in August 2014, and Indu Malhotra, appointed in April 2018.

*    PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi will step down in October after serving for 12 years as the top boss at the global beverage giant, PepsiCo. She will be succeeded by company President Ramon Laguarta.

*    Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa narrowly won the country’s landmark election in Zimbabwe.  He is a former ally of Robert Mugabe.

*    Farm and construction equipment maker Escorts appointed Nikhil Nanda as the chairman and managing director (MD) of the company.

*    The nominating committee of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has selected Ajay Data, Founder & CEO of Data XGen Plus and a global leader in email linguistic services, as a new council member of Country Code Supporting Organisation (ccNSO).

*    Public sector non-life insurance firm United India Insurance Company announced the appointment of S Gopakumar as its Director and General Manager with immediate effect.

*    Justice Rajendra Menon was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court by Lt Governor Anil Baijal at a ceremony held at the Raj Niwas in New Delhi.

*    NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh was elected the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman with 125 votes. The Opposition candidate BK Hariprasad managed to get 105 votes.

*    Ivan Duque was sworn in as the newly elected President of Colombia. He pledged to unite the country and improve economic growth.

*    United Nations announced that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has chosen former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to be the UN’s new human rights chief.

*    Smt. Justice Manjula Chellur took Oath as Chairperson, Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, Ministry of Power.