Daily Current Affairs, 26th August 2019

1) Union Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurates National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology

•Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has inaugurated the National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural Sciences (SACON) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

•The centre would study the movement of environmental contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and drugs through the food chain, and their harmful effects on birds.

2) SRK launches heritage postal stamp of Bandra station

•Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan launched heritage postal stamp of Bandra station in Mumbai, Maharashtra on the completion of 150 years of the railway station. He urged the people present at the launching event to use the postal stamps instead of online texting.

3) President Kovind inaugurates the First World Youth Conference

•President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the first-ever World Youth Conference. Which was organised by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi.

•The theme of the conference was ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The conference was in commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi and aimed at providing youth with creative, effective methods of engaging and realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

4) 24th Meeting of Western Zonal Council held in Panaji

•The 24th Meeting of Western Zonal Council was held in Panaji, Goa. It was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Goa being host state.

•Western Zonal Council is a forum for the Centre and the states to cooperate and exchange ideas and experiences on issues related to health, security and social welfare.

5) Harsh Vardhan inaugurates FSSAI’s National Food Laboratory

•Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan inaugurated FSSAI’s National Food Laboratory (NFL) in Ghaziabad on the occasion of 13th anniversary of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. This national lab is a result of a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), the first-of-its-kind in the food laboratory sector.

•The lab is equipped with the latest technologies and facilities to conduct analysis as per global accreditation standards for testing and calibration. NFL is one of the two premier referral laboratories under the direct administrative control of the apex food regulator named- Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).

6) Russia launches floating nuclear reactor in Arctic

•Russia launched the world’s first floating nuclear reactor. The vessel weighs 21,000 tons and has two reactors with a capacity of 35 megawatts each. This reactor loaded with nuclear fuel, the Akademik Lomonosov left the Arctic port of Murmansk to begin its 5,000 kilometres (3,000-mile) voyage to Pevek in northeastern Siberia.

7) NASA honours Rolling Stones by naming rock on Mars

•NASA announced that it has named rock on Mars in honour of the iconic English band, The Rolling Stones. The space agency revealing that the “Rolling Stones Rock” was a stone that was sent rolling after NASA’s InSight lander touched down on the Mars’ surface.

8) ‘Statue of Unity’, Mumbai’s Soho House among Time’s 100 greatest places in the world

•The 597-ft tall ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat and Mumbai’s Soho House have been featured by the Time magazine in its second annual list of the 2019 World’s greatest places, in a compilation of 100 new and newly “noteworthy destinations.

•The ‘Statue of Unity’, the world’s tallest statue, is a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first home minister as well as deputy prime minister. Soho House Mumbai is Asia’s first Soho House that puts a local spin on the “formula that has allowed Nick Jones’ members-¬only clubs to blossom across the US and Europe”.

9) CVC sets up 4-member Advisory Board for Banking Frauds

•The Central Vigilance Commission has constituted a 4-member Advisory Board for Banking Frauds. The ABBF will be headed by former Vigilance Commissioner T.M. Bhasin.

•The panel will function as the 1st level of examination of all large fraud cases. Lenders will refer all large fraud cases above Rs 50 crore to the board and on receipt of its recommendation or advice, the bank concerned would take further action in such matters.

•The other members of the panel are Madhusudan Prasad, former Urban Development Secretary; D.K. Pathak, former Director General of the Border Security Force; and Suresh N Patel, former MD and CEO of Andhra Bank.

•The panel was previously called the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds.

10) 45th G7 Summit begins in Biarritz, France

•The Group of 7 or G7 Summit has begun in Biarritz, France. It is an informal meeting between France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada as well as the European Union. These world powers, which represent 50% of the global economy, also share the values of freedom and democracy, as well as a collective ambition to deal with the world’s major issues.

•India has been invited as a special guest in the summit. PM Narendra Modi will address sessions on environment, climate, oceans and digital transformation at the G7 Summit.

11) P.V. Sindhu: Indian Sports New Sensation!!

•Padma Shri Awardee, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian professional badminton player. She was born on July 5, 1995, in Hyderabad. Her father PV Ramana and mother P. Vijaya are former Indian Volleyball Players. P.V. Ramana was also awarded the Arjuna Award in 2000 for his contribution to the sports in India. She started playing badminton at the age of 8 years and joined Pullela Gopichand’s Badminton Academy.

•Sindhu’s game was initially recognized during the 5th Servo All India ranking championship in the under-10 category. Later, she won the doubles titles at the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune in the Under-13 Category.

•Sindhu made her International debut in 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton championship held in Colombo and won the bronze medal. She defeated Singapore’s Gu Juan to won the Malaysian Open title which was her first Grand Prix in 2013 and also became the first Indian women’s singles player to win a medal at the Badminton World championship. In 2013, she was presented with the Arjuna Award, which is one of the highest honours for any sportspersons in India.

•Going ahead in her international career, she won successive women’s singles titles at the Macau Open Grand Prix in the year 2015 and was honoured with India’s 4th highest civilian honour “The Padma Shri Award”. In Rio Olympics 2016, she made her country proud after becoming the first athlete from India to win the silver medal at Olympics, as she lost the finals against the Spanish badminton star Carolina Marin.

•Later in year 2017, Sindhu went on to win the Indian Open Super Series after defeating Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin. She further went on to win a silver medal at the BWF World Championships in the same year. After reaching the final of the 2018 World Championships, she became the first shuttler in the world to reach the finals of three successive major events. Later in 2018, she was appointed as the Deputy Collector by the Andhra Pradesh government.

•But, in 2019’s BWF World Championships, she created history and become the first Indian shuttler to win the title. She defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara with 21-7, 21-7 to win the elusive gold in her 3rd successive final.

•Sindhu has made her country feel proud and will continue to do so.