Daily Current Affairs and GK | 29 and 30 August 2021

Topic: Important Days

1. National Sports Day: 29 August

• National Sports Day is celebrated every year on 29^th August in India.
• It is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Hockey Legend Major Dhyan Chand.
• Major Dhyan Chand is known as 'Wizard of Hockey'.  He was part of the hockey team that has won gold medals in Olympics in 1928, 1932 and 1936.  
• On this occasion, the sports awards like the Dhronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, and Arjuna Award are presented by the President.
• The National Sports Day was celebrated for the first time in 2012.
• It is observed to raise awareness about the need of physical activities in daily life. The government had launched Fit India Movement on National Sports Day 2019.

Topic: Defence

2. India and Germany conducted naval exercise in Gulf of Aden.

• Navies of India and Germany carried out joint exercise in the Gulf of Aden. The exercise was carried out as part of Indo-Pacific Deployment 2021.
• Indian Navy Ship (INS) Trikand participated in this exercise with German frigate Bayern. INS Trikand is deployed in the Gulf of Aden region for anti-piracy patrol.
• The exercise will enhance interoperability and facilitate exchange of best practices between both navies.
• Cross deck helo landings, visit board search and seizure operations are part of this naval exercise.

Important Naval exercises:

Topic: Sports

3. Indian shooter Avani Lekhara wins Gold medal in Women’s 10 metre Air Rifle Shooting at Tokyo Paralympics.

• Indian shooter Avani Lekhara has won a Gold medal in Women’s 10 metre Air Rifle Shooting at Tokyo Paralympics.
• Avani Lekhara has won the first Gold for India at Tokyo Paralympic Games. Nishad Kumar has won a Silver medal in Men’s High Jump T47 event at Tokyo Paralympics.
• Yogesh Kathuniya has won a Silver medal in Discus Throw. Devendra Jhajharia has won a Silver medal in Men's Javelin (F46) throw.
• Sundar Singh Gurjar has won the Bronze medal in Men's Javelin (F46) throw.
• Bhavinaben Patel won the silver medal in the table tennis event. She becomes the first table tennis player to win a medal at the Paralympics for India.
• Tokyo 2020 Paralympics are being held in Tokyo, Japan between 24 August and 5 September 2021. United by Emotion is the motto of Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Topic: State News/ Madhya Pradesh

4. State level sports awards announced by Madhya Pradesh Government.

• State level sports awards have been announced by Madhya Pradesh Government. 28 sportspersons have been given Sports Awards in different categories.
• Vivek Sagar is among 10 sportspersons, who have been selected for Vikram award. He is from Tokyo Olympic bronze medal winner Indian hockey team.
• The Life Time Achievement Award for the year 2020 has been given to Padmashri Mr Abhay Chhajlani.
• For the year 2020, 13 Eklavya, 10 Vikram, 3 Vishwamitra, 1 Prabhas Joshi award and 1 Life Time Achievement Award have been announced.

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

5. President inaugurated Ramayana conclave in Ayodhya.

• President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the Ramayana conclave in Ayodhya. Ramayana conclave has started on 29 August and will continue till 1 November.
• Ramayana conclave will be organized in different cities of Uttar Pradesh. Many special experts and Katha vachaks will discuss various events of Ramayana.
• President said that Ayodhya and Ramayana provide cultural power to our relationship with other countries.
• He also inaugurated many development projects for tourism in Ayodhya. He is the first President to visit Ayodhya. 
• Earlier, he had inaugurated the Mahayogi Gorakhnath Vishwavidyalaya in Gorakhpur.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ Tripura

6. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated ‘My Pad, My Right’ project in Tripura.

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has inaugurated the ‘My Pad, My Right’ project in Tripura.
• ‘My Pad, My Right’ project has been started by NABARD and NABFOUNDATION at Killa village in Gomati district.
• The main objective of this project is to bring livelihood and menstrual hygiene closer to rural women through the grant, wage support, and capital equipment.
• Under this initiative, one sanitary pad making machine, raw materials for two months, wages for 50 days, packaging material with accessories, and training will be provided to beneficiaries.
• Union Finance Minister also flagged off the mobile ATM van of Tripura State Co-Operative Bank Limited. She also interacted with the Self-Help Group run by women.
• Tripura government has also started many initiatives to strengthen the rural economy.  The number of Self-Help Group run by women has increased rapidly in the state.

Topic: National News

7.  Government will celebrate next month as POSHAN Maah.

• Women and Child Development Ministry will celebrate September month as POSHAN Maah across the country.
• Many activities will be organized during the POSHAN Maah. This year’s POSHAN Maah will focus on Plantation Drive.
• Every year September month is celebrated as POSHAN Maah to increase community mobilization and bolster people’s participation.
• The POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan was launched to address the problem of malnutrition.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

8. India to host conference on International Climate Summit 2020-21.

• India will host a conference on International Climate Summit 2020-21 on 3^rd September.
• It will be organized in cooperation with PhD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Team Norway and Norwegian businesses.
• The New & Renewable Energy, Power, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Coal and MSME ministry will also support the conference.
• It will be organized for creating future mitigation strategies of climate change. Norway will participate in this conference as Country Partner and Knowledge Partner.
• It will be focused on hydrogen energy and green technologies.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

9. Government introduced new registration mark for seamless transfer of vehicles.

• The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles under the Bharat series (BH-series) for seamless transfer of vehicles.
• At present, a passenger vehicle user has to obtain a No Objection Certificate from the Parent State and have to re-register in a new state for transferring of vehicle.
• A vehicle having a new registration mark will not require a new registration mark on transferring the vehicle from one state to another.
• This new registration mark facility will be available to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State Public Sector Undertakings, and private sector companies/organization.
• According to the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered. The motor vehicle tax is levied for two years or in multiples of two.

Topic: Miscellaneous

10. Sonu Sood becomes brand ambassador of ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme.

• Bollywood actor Sonu Sood becomes the brand ambassador of the Delhi government’s “Desh ke Mentor” programme.
• “Desh ke Mentor” programme will be launched next month to provide career guidance to school children.
• Under this initiative, experienced people from the various fields will guide and mentor groups of government school students of 9-12 classes.
• Sonu Sood appealed to citizens across the country to come forward and support children’s education.
• Other brand ambassador in News:

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

11. NIFT, New Delhi under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles, initiates national sizing survey.

• National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles, has initiated a national sizing survey to create an anthropometric database of measurements for Indians.
• The project has been approved by the Government of India and supported by industry consortium Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).
• The project entails measuring over 25,000 people in the age group of 15-65 years in six different cities using non-contact human safe 3D body scanning technology.
• Six different cities are New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Shillong.
• Shantmanu, Director General, NIFT said that NIFT is proud to be associated with Ministry of Textile’s initiative of INDIAsize.
• INDIAsize is an exercise in which anthropogenic data is collected using human safe 3D whole body scanner technology, in order to create a standardized size.
• Since July 2021, NIFT Delhi has collected data of over 5000 samples as a part of the first leg of the data collection.
• National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) was set up in 1986. It was made a statutory institute in 2006.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

12. NGT passes order directing Government of Assam to declare “Deepor Beel” as an eco-sensitive zone.

• National Green Tribunal (NGT) has passed order directing Government of Assam to declare “Deepor Beel” as an eco-sensitive zone.
• NGT had earlier passed an order prohibiting any further encroachment and to take steps for the removal of existing ones.
• NGT had directed that the water body should be made free from all the hydrophytes (plants that grow in water).
• Once spread over 4,000 hectares, Deepor Beel has now shrunk to 500 hectares. It is home to over 200 species of migratory birds.

Topic: State News/ Maharashtra

13. Maharashtra government launches special mission for women who lost their husbands due to COVID.

• Maharashtra government has launched a special mission for women who lost their husbands to COVID.
• Government will provide 18 benefits, schemes, and services under one roof to these widows.
• The name of the new programme designed for widows is ‘Mission Vatsalya’. 18 benefits, schemes, and services include several schemes like the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana, Gharkul Yojana.
• In the last 18 months, 15,095 women lost their husbands due to COVID-19.

Topic: Appointments

14. Union Health Minister assumes charge as Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board.

• Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has assumed charge as Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board.
• He will hold the responsibility of Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board until 2024.
• As Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board, he will lead efforts of Stop TB Partnership Secretariat, partners, and the TB community towards reaching the UN TB targets by 2022.
• Union Health Minister reiterated PM Modi’s commitment to eradicate TB in India by 2025.
• Stop TB Partnership was founded in 2001. It aims to push tuberculosis up the world political agenda.
• It involves nearly 1000 organizations that are committed to eliminating TB as a global public health problem.

(Source: News on AIR)