Sports
1. India plans to host BRICS Games in 2021
- Sports Ministry is planning to host BRICS Games 2021 that will be aligned with the Khelo India Games schedule.
- It will be held at the same venue as Khelo India Games
- BRICS Games were formed at 8th BRICS Summit held in Goa, India in 2016
- First edition of the BRICS Games were held in Guangzhou, China in 2017
- BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
- BRICS Headquarters: Shanghai, China
- BRICS President: Marcos Prado Troyjo
- Sports Minister: Kiren Rijiju
Important Dates
2. National Sports Day being observed today
- National Sports Day is observed on 29 August in India every year marking the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
- It was first celebrated in 2012.
- Every year, it is being celebrated across the nation with President conferring National Sports Awards to players who have performed well for our nation.
- Major Dhyan Chand Singh was a legendary hockey player, who won Olympics gold medals for India in the years 1928, 1932 and 1936.
Honours & Awards
3. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld won International Booker Prize 2020
- Dutch Author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld won 2020 International Booker Prize for her fiction book titled as ‘The Discomfort of Evening’.
- She became the youngest author to win the prize at the age of 29.
- The book depicts fictional story of Jas, a girl in a devout Christian farming family, whose brother dies in an accident after she wishes he would die instead of her rabbit.
- The book was originally written in Dutch in 2018 and was translated into English by Michele Hutchison.
National Affairs
4. Centre launches national GIS-enabled land bank system
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has launched National GIS-enabled Land Bank System.
- It is database of industrial areas/clusters across the states that will help in providing real-time information about the availability of industrial land and resources in India
- It is developed by integrating Industrial Information System (IIS) with state GIS (Geographic Information System)
- It is initially launched for 6 states and will reach all other states/ UTs by Dec 2020.
State Affairs
5. Kerala gets First marine ambulance boat ‘PRATHEEKSHA’
- Kerala’s CM Pinarayi Vijayan has inaugurated the first ever marine ambulance titled as ‘PRATHEEKSHA’ via videoconferencing.
- It is built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and designed by Central Institute of Fisheries Technology with a cost of Rs. 6.08 crore
- ‘Prathyasha’ and ‘Karunya’ are the other two boats that were launched in the series of 3 fully equipped marine ambulance boat
- It will be deployed at Vizhinjam village of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Summits & Conferences
6. Piyush Goyal addresses ASEAN-India Virtual Business Council Meet
- Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal addressed ASEAN-India Business Council virtual meet with impetus on 3Cs: Cooperation, Collaboration and Commitment
- The business council meet provided a platform to discuss wide range of concerns for achieving a target of $300 billion trade.
- India and ASEAN also inked free trade agreement (FTA) and agreed to review ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement signed in 2009.
- ASEAN HQs: Jakarta, Indonesia.
Summits & Conferences
7. 14th India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue held
- 14th edition of India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue (DPD) was held via video conferencing.
- DPD was co-chaired by India’s Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Singapore’s Permanent Secretary (Defence) Chan Heng Kee.
- Issues related to bilateral defence engagements between India and Singapore were discussed at DPD
- India also signed Implementing Arrangement on Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) with Singapore.
Honours & Awards
8. Sudha Painuli selected for National Award to Teachers 2020
- Sudha Painuli has been selected for National Award to Teachers 2020
- The teachers are selected by Independent Jury at National Level, constituted by Ministry of Education, Dept of School Education Literacy.
- She is the Vice-Principal of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) Dehradun, Uttarakhand established under Ministry of Tribal Affairs
- She has been selected for her innovative experiments like Birthday Garden, Theatre in Education, Tribal Museum, etc.
Obituaries
9. Veteran athletics coach Purshottam Rai passes away
- Veteran athletics coach Purshottam Rai (79 years) passed away in Bengaluru due to cardiac arrest
- He served as the coach of top athletes like Olympian quartermiler Vandana Rao, heptathlete Pramila Aiyappa, Ashwini Nachappa, Murali Kuttan, MK Asha, EB Shyla, Rosa Kutty and GG Pramila.
- He began his coaching career in 1974.
- He was to be conferred with prestigious Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category on National Sports Day (August 29).
International Affairs
10. Longest Serving Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe resigns
- Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe (65 years) has announced his resignation due to poor health conditions.
- He is the longest serving Prime Minister in Japanese history, who served world’s third-biggest economy for a record 7 years and eight months.
- He was serving as Japan’s PM since 26 December 2012.
- Prior to this, he served as Japan’s PM for a short period between July 2006 to Sept 2007, becoming the youngest PM of Japan.
National Affairs
11. Electronics and Information Technology Minister launches ‘Chunauti’
- Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad has rolled out ‘Chunauti’-Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest.
- It is aimed at boosting startups and software products with special attention on Tier-II towns
- The contest will identify 300 startups engaged in areas like Edu-tech, agri-tech, logistic, fin-tech, etc will be offered fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh along with other facilities
- It has a budget of Rs. 95.03 Crore.
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