Current Affairs, August 2018

31st August, Current Affairs:

• The GDP or gross domestic product grew 8.2 per cent in the April-June period, which is the highest level of economic growth recorded since the July-September period in 2014-15.
• Virat Kohli became the second fastest batsman from India after Sunil Gavaskar to complete 6000 runs during the ongoing fourth Test between India and England at Southampton.

29th August, Current Affairs:

• The National Sports Day in India is celebrated today on the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
• Swapna Barman clinched India's first-ever heptathlon gold at Asian Games 2018. Also Arpinder Singh won the men's triple jump final to clinch gold. Dutee Chand wins silver in women’s 200m.

28th August, Current Affairs:

• PV Sindhu wins individual silver medal at the Asian Games after losing the women's singles final to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying on Tuesday by 13-21, 16-21. Sindhu is the first Indian that had ever reached the final of a badminton singles event at the Asian Games.
• India's Manjit Singh won the gold in the men's 800 metres event while Jinson Johnson clinched the silver medal in men's 800 metres in Asian Games.

27th August, Current Affairs:

• Neeraj Chopra wins India's first javelin gold medal in Asian Games history. He managed a personal best throw of 88.06 to win the top prize in javelin throw.

25th August, Current Affairs:

• Aerospace scientist G Satheesh Reddy was on Saturday appointed the Chairman of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and Secretary in the Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D).

22nd August, Current Affairs:

• Bakrid is celebrated today.
• Senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon has been appointed the Governor of Bihar. Kaptan Singh Solanki, the Governor of Haryana, has been transferred to Tripura, while Satyadev Narayan Arya will be the new Haryana governor. Tripura governor Tathagata Roy has been transferred to Meghalaya, and Ganga Prasad, the Governor of Meghalaya, has been transferred to Sikkim. Baby Rani Maurya will be the new Governor of Uttarakhand.
• India's men's hockey team cruised to their biggest ever tournament win at the Asian Games with a 26-0 win over Hong Kong.
• Rahi Sarnobat became the first Indian female shooter to win gold at the Asian Games, achieving the rare feat in 25m air pistol final in Palembang, Indonesia.

21st August, Current Affairs:

• Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik has been appointed as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He will replace Present Governor NN Vohra.

20th August, Current Affairs:

• Vinesh Phogat becomes the first Indian female gold medal winner at the Asiad after defeating Japan's Yuki Irie in Women's Freestyle 50 kg gold medal match.

19th August, Current Affairs:

• India captain Virat Kohli became India's highest run-getting Test skipper overseas. Virat Kohli achieved the milestone during Day 1 of 3rd Test. The record was previously held by former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who has 1693 runs to his name.
• Apurvi Chandela-Ravi Kumar gets India's first medal in Asian Games 2018 with Bronze In 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Event.
• Wrestler Bajrang Punia gives India its first gold medal in the Asian Games 2018. Bajrang defeated Takatani Daichi of Japan 11-8 in the Men's 65kg wrestling.

18th August, Current Affairs:

• Former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Laureate Kofi Annan died at the age of 80 at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.
• The Asian Games 2018 starts from today with a opening ceremony at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) main stadium in Jakarta, Indonesian. 10,000 athletes from 45 countries compete in 58 games in Asian Games 2018. Form India, 572 athletes will took part in this mega event.
• The 11th World Hindi Conference inaugurated in Mauritius.

17th August, Current Affairs:

• Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee cremated in New Delhi with full state honours.
• The death toll in the recent rain- and flood-related incidents across Kerala rose to 164. More than 1.5 lakh people have been shifted to 1,200 relief camps.
• Imran Khan elected as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan by Pakistan lawmakers in the National Assembly.

16th August, Current Affairs:

• Former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away this evening just past 5 pm at the age of 93 years. He was admitted to AIIMS with a kidney tract infection and chest congestion on June 11. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister for 13 days in 1996, 13 months in 1998 and for five years from 1999.
• Former cricket captain Ajit Wadekar died at the age of 77 after a prolonged illness at Jaslok Hopsital in South Mumbai. Wadekar led India to their first overseas win in England and the West Indies in 1971.

15th August, Current Affairs:

• 72nd Independence Day is celebrated in India.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from Red Fort. He announced the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan, a national healthcare scheme that will "impact 50 crore Indians".

14th August, Current Affairs:

• The President of India Ram Nath Kovind addresses the nation on the eve of 72nd Independence Day.
• The Indian rupee value crashed to all-time low of 70.09 against the US dollar.

13th August, Current Affairs:

• Former Lok Sabha Speaker and 10 times Member of Parliament, Somnath Chatterjee died at the age of 89 in Kolkata.
• Union Government published the inaugural 'Ease of Living Index', where Pune, Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai from Maharashtra were ranked today India's three most livable places. Rampur in Uttar Pradesh figured at the bottom of the livability index released by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.

12th August, Current Affairs:

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh formally inducted India's first all Women SWAT Commando unit into Delhi Police.
• Nobel Prize-winning writer V.S. Naipaul from Trinidad died in London at the age of 85. VS Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2001.

10th August, Current Affairs:

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made it legal that a digital copy of documents such as driving license and a vehicle's registration, insurance etc. which are stored in Digilocker or mParivahan mobile app, will now be accepted legally along with the actual physical documents.
• The Monsoon Session of the Parliament is concluded today. It is the most productive session for Lok Sabha since 2000.
• 26 people died in the flood caused by heavy monsoon rains in Kerala.

9th August, Current Affairs:

• First-time lawmaker Harivansh from Janata Dal United had been elected as the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman. He was declared the winning candidate with 125 votes, while United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) B K Hariprasad received 105 votes.

7th August, Current Affairs:

• Five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi died at a hospital in Chennai at the age of 94. He was admitted to the hospital on July 28 after he contracted urinary tract infection and developed a high fever.

6th August, Current Affairs:

• India became home to the world’s first-ever thermal battery plant, that was inaugurated in Andhra Pradesh. This plant aims to create a new energy storage form that is expected to have commercial applications, while also maintaining a low carbon footprint.

5th August, Current Affairs:

• President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to a law that will deter fugitive economic offenders to evade legal process in India and flee the country.
• India shuttler PV Sindhu settled for the silver medal after losing her BWF Badminton World Championships final clash to Spain's Carolina Marin by 19-21, 10-21 at Nanjing, China.

4th August, Current Affairs:

• Justice Geeta Mittal was today appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, becoming the first woman judge in the history to head it.
• India has become the first south Asian to get the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) status. This status will pave way for high-technology product sales to India, particularly in civil space and defence sectors.
• Indian-origin mathematician Akshay Venkatesh gets prestigious Fields Medal.

3rd August, Current Affairs:

• Lok Sabha passes National Sports University Bill to establish a National Sports University in Manipur to promote sports education.

2nd August, Current Affairs:

• Apple Inc became the first $1 trillion publicly listed US company in the World.
• The Lok Sabha unanimously passes the Bill for constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

1st August, Current Affairs:

• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a Bill to restore the original provisions of a law on atrocities against Dalits and tribals.
• The Reserve Bank of India today hiked its repo rate by 25 basis points, for the second consecutive time.