Himachal Pradesh
- Himachal Pradesh University students declare ‘Shiksha Bandh
- In fear of health complications when Shimla police forcibly took away 2 protesting students of department of interdisciplinary studies (DIS) from Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) campus, who were sitting on hunger strike till death from the last 3 days, the students launched complete ‘Shiksha Bandh’ in HPU alleging that HPU authorities are not listening to their demands and now they are suppressing their voices.
- HPU’s students unions- National Students Federation of India (NSUI) and Students Federation of India (SFI) too supported the DIS Samiti as over 300 SFI students also launched protest demonstration in campus.
INTERNATIONAL
- India and Germany signed agreement to improve grid integration of renewable energy
- India and Germany signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors(IGEN-GEC).
- The main aim of this programme is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energy.
- Around 60 years, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has been working jointly with partners in India for sustainable economic, ecological, and social development.
- Kenya Imposes World’s Toughest Law Against Plastic Bags
- The country Kenya imposed a law that selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000.
- It is the world’s toughest law which is aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.
- The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.
NATIONAL
- Union Government to launch Deep Ocean Mission
- The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is going to launch Deep Ocean Mission by January 2018 to spur research activities in ocean science.
- The proposed inter-ministerial and interdisciplinary project aims to explore and harness mineral resources beneath the ocean floor.
- India has 7,500 km of coastline and 2.4 million square km of exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The oceans along Indian peninsula contain enormous opportunities.
- Vice President Launches ‘National Sports Talent Search Portal’.
- The Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu launched the National Sports Talent Search Portal, a Government initiative to unearth sporting talent from every nook and corner of the country.
- Under the initiative, a child or his parents, teachers or coaches can upload his bio data or video on the portal.
- The Sports ministry will select talented players and impart training to them at Sports Authority India centres.
- The ministry also decided to introduce 1000 scholarships of Rs 5 lakh each for eight years.
- Nitasha Biswas Crowned First Miss TransQueen India
- Nitasha Biswas, a trans woman from Kolkata was crowned the first Miss TransQueen India.
- The competition was held in Gurugram, Haryana. Biswas is currently pursuing Masters in Business Management in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- On the other hand, Manipur’s Loiloi was crowned the first runner-up. Biswas will now go to Thailand for Miss International Queen, while Loiloi will compete at Miss Transsexual Australia.
- 29 August: National Sports Day
- National Sports day is celebrated on 29th august every year to mark the birthday of Dhyan Chand.
- On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind will give away the sports Awards. A total of 29 players have been selected to receive the honours from President.
- The President will confer Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
- The Khel Ratna Award is honoured for the players’ spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level. The Arjuna Awards are given to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports while the Dronacharya Award is sports coaching honour.
- Arun Jaitley delivered LRSAM to Indian Navy
- Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over the Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) jointly developed by India and Israel, to the Indian Navy, at Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) here.
- LRSAM is an advanced combat suit for missile defence against air targets and missiles, and has full capabilities of air and surface surveillance, threat alert and fire control.
- Public sector BDL is the missile production agency for the three armed forces.