Daily GK Update : 29th August 2017

Important Dates

1. National Sports Day being observed today

• The National Sports day in India is celebrated on 29th August every year to mark the birthday of hockey player Dhyan Chand.
• Dhyan Chand was an Indian field hockey player, who is considered as one of the greatest field hockey players of all time.
• He is known for his extraordinary goal scoring feats, in addition to earning three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey.
• The Khel Ratna Award is honored for the players spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level.
• The Arjuna Awards are given to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports while the Dronacharya Award is sports coaching honour.

Note:

• The Government of India (GoI) has designated 29^th August as the country’s ‘National Sports Day’ in 2012.
• The President will confer Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, and Dronacharya Award at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

National Affairs

2. PM Modi inaugurates National Highway projects in Rajasthan

• Prime Minister ‘Narendra Modi’ has inaugurated various National Highway projects and lay the foundation stone of the Jaipur Ring Road in Rajasthan.
• The projects include six Lane Cable Stayed Bridge across River Chambal at Kota, four laning of Gomati Chauraha - Udaipur section and four laning of Rajsamand - Bhilwara section.
• The total outlay on these projects is estimated to be over 15,000 crore rupees.
• The PM Modi will also visit the Pratap Gaurav Kendra to pay his respects to Maharana Pratap.

3. DIPP releases next edition of consolidated FDI policy

• The Commerce and Industry Ministry has released the next edition of its consolidated FDI policy document, incorporating all the changes made over the past year.
• The consolidated policy is a compilation of the various decisions taken by the government in the past one year.
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) compiles all policies related to foreign investment regime into a single document to make it simple and easy for investors to understand.
• In last one year, the union government has liberalized FDI policy in over a dozen sectors, including defence, civil aviation, construction and development, private security agencies and news broadcasting.
• The whole exercise is aimed at providing an investor friendly climate to foreign players and, in turn, attract more FDI to boost economic growth and create jobs.

4. Ministry of Textiles to organize Pan India camps for weavers and artisans

• The Ministry of Textiles will organize a Pan India camps in handlooms and handicrafts clusters, under the initiative ‘Hastkala Sahyog Shivir’ on 7-17th of October this year.
• This initiative is dedicated to ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Garib Kalyan Varsh’, the birth centenary year of Pandit Deendayal Upadhayay.
• In these camps, Assistance for technological upgradation under Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayat & distribution of modern tool kits and equipment will be provided to the weavers and artisans.

Note:

• These camps will be organized in more than 200 handloom Block Level Clusters and Weavers’ Service Centres in collaboration with State Governments.

5. Government to launch Deep Ocean Mission

• The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will launch Deep Ocean Mission by January 2018 to spur research activities in ocean science and develop technology to harness ocean resources.
• The proposed inter-ministerial and interdisciplinary project aims to explore and harness mineral resources beneath the ocean floor.

Note:

• The mission is intended to harness ocean resources in a responsible way and play an important transformative role in prosperity and security of the nation.

International Affairs

6. UNSC to meet today to discuss latest North Korea missile launch

• Today, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will meet to discuss the latest North Korea missile launch.
• UNSC wastes no time in convening the meeting in view of North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan early today.
• Earlier, the Pentagon has confirmed that North Korea has launched a missile over Japan, in a major escalation by Pyongyang amid tensions over its weapons ambitions.

7. India & Germany ink agreement to improve grid integration of renewable energy

• India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) of Germany have signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme-Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC).
• The main objective of this program is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energies with conventional power grids.
• Germany had agreed to provide concessional loans of up to 1 billion euros through German Development Bank (KfW) and up to 10 million euros under technical assistance.

Note:

• In 2013, the IGEN-GEC program was launched by the Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and jointly implemented by India’s MNRE and GIZ.

8. Kenya imposes world's toughest law against plastic bags

• Kenya has imposed the world's toughest law against plastic bags in the country to reduce plastic pollution.
• The law punishes Kenyans producing, selling or using plastic bags with a maximum fine of over Rs. 25 lakh or a four-year jail term.
• It took Kenya three attempts over ten years to pass the ban which critics say could cut 80,000 jobs.

Obituaries

9. Barefoot footballer Ahmed Khan passes away

• India's oldest football Olympian Ahmed Khan (90-year) passed away at his residence in Bengaluru.
• Ahmed was part of the famous 'barefoot' football squad that made its debut in Olympic football at the 1948 London Games.

Science

10. Ultra-thin carbon nanotubes can separate salt from seawater

• Scientists have developed carbon nanotubes over 50,000 times thinner than a human hair which can separate salt from seawater.
• The team found that water permeability in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with diameters of 0.8 nanometre significantly exceeds that of wider carbon nanotubes.
• The super smooth inner surface of the nanotube is responsible for their remarkably high-water permeability, while the tiny pore size blocks larger salt ions.

Note:

• The narrow hydrophobic channel forces water to translocate in a single-file arrangement, a phenomenon similar to that found in the most efficient biological water transporters.

Thought of the Day

"We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

GK Quiz (for previous day’s news only) Take the quiz below to find out how well-versed you are with current affairs. You can also go through the Daily GK Update: 28th August 2017 before attempting the quiz.