Current affairs notes on 16/08/2018-17/08/2018

1.For better tackling of air pollution related issues in the Delhi, Supreme Court has approved the central government's proposal to use hologram-based colour-coded stickers for vehicles in Delhi based on the fuel used. The scheme is based on a model used in Paris.

2.D Bala Venkatesh Varma has been appointed as the Ambassador to Russia.

3.R Vaishali became India's latest Woman Grandmaster (WGM).She completed her third and final WGM norm in the chess tournament in Riga, Latvia.

4.Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri which was on a good will visit to the island nation entered the Port of Suva on 13th August 2018. The naval ship is visiting the Republic of Fiji en route to India after participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC)-2018 organised at Hawaii.

5.Nihal Sarin (14) from Kerala has become the 53rd Grandmaster of India and the 12th youngest grandmaster in chess history after attaining his third and final GM-norm in the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018.

6.Atal Bihari Vajpayee (93), the veteran leader, prolific writer and former Prime Minister of India, has passed away in New Delhi on 16th August 2018. In 1996  Atal Bihari Vajpayee became India’s prime minister for first time.Good Governance Day is observed in India on the 25th December every year on his birthday.

7.The Central government has constituted a coordination committee headed by the Central Water Commission Chairman “Narendra Kumar” to coordinate the discharge of floodwaters from inter-State projects involving Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Mullaperiyar and Aliyar. 

8.on India’s 72nd Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will send an astronaut to space in the year 2022 through Indian Human Space Flight Programme. India plans to build a crew vehicle that can accommodate 2 or 3 astronauts and human rate its GLSV Mk-III launcher.

9.The multi-purpose Barak 8 missile defence system, jointly developed by India and Israel, Barak-8 is an operational air and missile defense system used by the Israeli Navy as well as by the Indian Navy and air forces. 

10.The 11th World Hindi Conference 2018 (WHC) has started in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, with theme “Hindi World and Indian Culture” on August 17.It was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) in association with the Government of Mauritius. 

11.Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as the new President of Mali. Mali is a landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups.

12.The 10-day festival of the historic Esala Maha Perehera has started in Kandy, Sri Lanka on August 17,that is believed to commemorate the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment. 

13.The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the Global Liveability Index 2018. Vienna is at the top, New Delhi at 112th position. Mumbai at 117th position.

14.Indian scientist Nandula Raghuram has been elected as the Chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), a global policy making initiative. He is the first Indian and Asian to be elected to the Chair of INI.  The initiative aims to optimise nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production and minimise nitrogen’s negative effects on human health.

15.To get 'Millets' global recognition India has written to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations proposing declaration of the upcoming year as “International Year of Millets”.

16.The Environment Ministry has allowed scientists to test the suitability of land in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district to host the India wing of the ambitious Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project. The objective is to use gravitational-wave observations in astronomical studies.

17.The Odisha government is setting up a world-class interpretation centre at Dangamal near Bhitarkanika National Park to showcase its efforts in protecting crocodiles and preserving its rich mangrove diversity. 

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