Daily Current Affairs, 01st September 2018

1) AYUSH Minister Inaugurates 4th International Ayurveda Congress At Netherlands

•Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the Fourth International Ayurveda Congress (IAvC) at the Netherlands. The Minister is in Netherlands to participate in the Congress jointly organized by International Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation, Netherlands; All India Ayurvedic Congress, New Delhi and the International Academy of Ayurveda, Pune in association with the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands. 

•The congress would focus on promotion and propagation of Ayurveda in the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries of Europe. A special Seminar is also organized by the Indian Embassy titled “India-Netherlands collaboration in Healthcare, including Ayurveda”. 

2) Prime Minister Launches India Post Payments Bank

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a payments bank of the Department of Posts that will take banking to the doorstep of every citizen through an unmatched network of post offices and almost 3 lakh postmen and ‘Grameen Dak Sewaks’. 

•The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will be like any other banks but its operations will be on a smaller scale without involving any credit risk. It will carry out most banking operations like accepting deposits but won’t advance loans or issue credit cards.

•The payments bank will accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh, offer remittance services, mobile payments/transfers/purchases and other banking services like ATM/debit cards, net banking and third-party fund transfers. The IPPB would be available through 650 branches and 3,250 access points. 

3) GDP Growth Soars To 8.2% In 1st Quarter Of Current Fiscal

•Indian economy grew by 8.2% in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal, the highest in over two years. This announcement was made by Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. The manufacturing sector grew by 13.5% which signals very good turnaround in the sector. 

•In a related development Reserve Bank of India stated Non-food credit growth in the system accelerated to 10.6% for July as compared to previous year, driven by loans to the services sector growing at the faster clip. Credit to the services sector grew 23% for the reporting period, up from the year-ago period's 4.9%. 

4) Binoy Kumar Assumes Charge Of Secretary In Steel Ministry

•Binoy Kumar has taken over as Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India. He had been posted as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry. Prior to this, Binoy Kumar held the post of Special Secretary, Logistics, in the Department of Commerce. 

•He also held the post of Director General (Supplies & Disposals), where he developed the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) as a one-stop online public procurement platform, in line with the digital initiatives of the Government of India. 

5) Asian Games 2018: Pranab, Shibnath Wins India's 1st Ever Bridge Gold

•India's 60-year-old Pranab Bardhan and 56-year-old Shibnath Sarkar won the men's pair bridge event to bag the country's first-ever gold in bridge at the Asian Games. 

•The card game has been featured as a sport at the Asian Games for the first time, in the 2018 edition.  China won silver in this event. India has won 15 gold medals at the Asiad 2018 so far. 

6) Asian Games 2018: Amit Panghal Wins Gold In Boxing

•India's 22-year-old boxer Amit Panghal defeated 2016 Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the men's 49kg final to bag gold at the Asian Games 2018. 

•Amit was the only Indian boxer who made it to a final at the quadrennial event. He had won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year and a bronze at Asian Championships last year.