CURRENT AFFAIRS – 31st AUGUST’14 1. National Sports Day was celebrated yesterday (29th August) across the country. The National Sports Day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of famous hockey player Dhyan Chand. Major Dhyan Chand was India’s greatest hockey player. He helped India win 3 Olympic Gold medals including the first in 1928 (Amsterdum Olympic games) and then in 1932 (Los Angeles Olympic games) and 1936 (Berlin Olympic games). The President presented all the sport-related awards such as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award on this day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to sports achievers and coaches across various sporting fields. 2. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today during his 5 day visit to Japan and both the countries signed a MoU today to develop Varanasi into a ‘smart city’ by using the experience of Kyoto, the ’smart city’ of Japan. A Partner City MoU was signed by Indian Ambassador Deepa Wadhwa and Kyoto Mayor Daisaka Kadokawa at a ceremony in presence of Prime Ministers of both the countries. The MoU provides for cooperation in heritage conservation, city modernisation and cooperation in the fields of art, culture and academics, as per External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin. This will serve as framework for Smart heritage city programme between the two countries, he added. 3. Vinod Kumar Duggal resigned as Manipur Governor, becomes the ninth government to resign since the newly elected NDA government took charge 100 days back. He was appointed as governor of Manipur by President Pranab Mukherjee in December 2013. 4. After Governors, the Narendra Modi government planned to remove independent directors appointed by the previous UPA regime on PSU boards. NDA government begins that with sacking of four directors on the board of Indian Oil Corp. As per regulatory filing by Indian Oil Corp, K Jairaj, Nesar Ahmad, Sunil Krishna and Sayan Chatterjee have ceased to be Independent Directors on the Board of the company on August 27, 2014. All of them were appointed to IOC board in March this year for a three-year term by previous UPA government. 5. Famous historian Bipin Chandra passed away at his residence today after prolonged illness. He was 86. He had played multiple roles including that of chairperson of the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Member of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Chairman of the National Book Trust (NBT). He had authored several books including ‘The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism’, ‘In the Name of Democracy: The JP Movement and the Emergency’, ‘Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India’ and ‘The Making of Modern India: From Marx to Gandhi’ etc. He was also awarded with Padma Bhushan by the Central Government. 6. India’s P.V. Sindhu had to be content with the bronze medal in women’s singles event at the World Badminton Championships held at Copenhagen (Denmark) after she lost in the semi-final on 30 August 2014. Which player defeated Sindhu in this match? – Carolina Marin of Spain Explanation : 9th seeded Carolina Marin defeated P.V. Sindhu by 21-17, 21-15 to reach women’s singles final. She will take on World No.1 and reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in the finals. The 11th seeded Sindhu had created history on 29 August 2014 when she made into the semi-finals to become the first Indian to notch two medals at the badminton’s most prestigious event, having also clinched the bronze last year in Guangzhou. 7. What is the GDP growth rate of India during the first quarter (April-June) of 2014-15, which is the best growth rate in around ten quarters? – 5.7% Explanation : The GDP growth of 5.7% during first quarter (Q1) was recorded as compared with the same quarter of 2013-14. According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 29 August 2014, quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-2005) prices for Q1 of 2014-15 is estimated at Rs14.38 lakh crore, as against Rs13.61 lakh crore in Q1 of 2013-14, showing a growth rate of 5.7% over the corresponding quarter of previous year. The economic activities which registered significant growth in Q1 of 2014-15 over Q1 of 2013-14 are electricity, gas & water supply at 10.2%, financing, insurance, real estate and business services at 10.4% and ‘community, social and personal services’ at 9.1%. 8. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been sworn in as the President of Turkey after winning the country’s first public vote after serving three terms as Prime Minister. This move will only increase his dominance on the country. At the same time, former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will be the Prime Minister of the country. 9. The eurozone inflation dropped to five year low of 0.3% in August, increases fear of possible deflation across the region. Inflation in euro zone stood at 0.4% in July. This will prompt the European Central Bank (ECB) to take immediate action to boost economic growth across the region. 10. Brazilian economy fallen into recession as its economy was conracted by 0.6% during second quarter of current year following a 0.2% contraction in the previous quarter. A recession is defined by contraction in two consecutive quarters. This is a very bad news for President Dilma Rousseff just before the General Election which will be held in October this year. 11. Famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was named the UEFA Best Player in Europe this week, his second after he won the same in 2008. He defeated Bayern Munich players Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben for the prestigious award. Ronaldo has received highest number of 24 votes from a panel of European football journalists to win the award followed by Neuer with 19 votes and Robben with 9 votes. 12. Yashwardhan Shukla wrote the novel ‘God of Antarctica’. He is just 13 years old school going boy. UPDATED BY: TEAM SIR JOHN
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:24:11 +0000