Current Affairs

Himanshi Tokas Clinches Silver Medal At Asian Cadet Judo Championships

At the Asian Cadet and Junior Judo Championships in Mungyeong, South Korea, India’s Himanshi Tokas clinched the Silver medal in the Women’s 63-kilogram event yesterday.

19-year-old Himanshi is a Khelo Bharat athlete. This four-day Judo Championship will conclude today at the Mungyeong Gymnasium.



15 Year Old International Master Mayank Chakraborty Wins His 2nd Grand Master Norm In Greece

15-year-old Chess International Master Mayank Chakraborty from Assam has won his second Grand Master Norm in a GM Norm Tournament being conducted in Greece today. IM Mayank requires one last norm and to touch the FIDE Rating Point 2500 once to be a Grand Master, in fact the first Grand Master from entire North East India. His present FIDE rating is 2431. He had become International Master this year in April only, and right now he is the player with the highest number of Grand Master Norms and highest rating from the entire North East India.

IM Sahil Dey, aged 17 years, is the second player from North East who is still in the race to be the first Grand Master from North East with one norm and 2375 FIDE rating at the moment.



UN Agencies In Gaza Launch Campaign To Vaccinate 640,000 Children Against Polio

In West Asia, UN agencies in the Gaza Strip have launched an ambitious campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio today. The campaign relies on a series of localised pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, with the first window beginning today.

The vaccination campaign began today in areas of central Gaza and will move to other areas in the coming days. During this campaign, war will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said at least 90% of children under 10 must be immunised in a short time frame. Last month, WHO confirmed that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in the last 25 years. UN experts warned that more children may be infected and that there could be a wider regional outbreak if the virus is not dealt with.

In a significant development amid ongoing conflict, Israel’s military and Hamas have also reached an agreement to implement three separate, zone-wise, three-day pauses in fighting across Gaza to facilitate a polio vaccination campaign.



Rubina Francis wins bronze in air pistol SH1 event

India's Rubina Francis won a bronze medal in the women's air pistol SH1 event final to continue the strong show from the country's shooters in the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.

Rubina scored a total of 211.1 to finish third in the eight-woman final. She had qualified for the final at seventh spot in the qualification round earlier in the day.

This was India's fourth medal in shooting and fifth overall at the Paris Paralympics.

On Friday, Avani Lekhara had created history by successfully defending her women's 10m air rifle gold medal which she had clinched in Tokyo Paralympics, with compatriot Mona Agarwal clinching the bronze.



Air Marshal Tejinder Singh takes over as Deputy Chief of Air Staff

Air Marshal Tejinder Singh on Sunday took over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry said.

After taking charge at the Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan), the Air Marshal paid homage to the brave hearts, who made the supreme sacrifice, by laying wreath at the National War Memorial here.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Singh was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on June 13, 1987. He is a Category 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,500 hours of flying and an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College, the Ministry said in a statement.



Former Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena appointed Bihar's Chief Secretary

Former Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, who was repatriated to his home cadre on August 30, has been appointed Chief Secretary of Bihar. Meena took charge of his new post on Saturday. Earlier, an order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on August 30 said, "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved repatriation of Shri Amrit Lal Meena, IAS (BH:89), Secretary, Ministry of Coal, to his parent cadre on the request of Government of Bihar."

Meena made a courtesy call on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday. He succeeds outgoing Chief Secretary Brijesh Mehrotra.

Meena took over charge of the post of Secretary, Ministry of Coal, in November 2022, while he was on Central deputation. The highlight of his tenure was a momentous increase in India's coal production, with the country's total coal production crossing the 1 Billion Tonne (BT) mark in FY 2023-24. When he took charge of the ministry in 2022, India had been facing a scarcity of coal every summer season (when power demand spikes) since 2020.



Karnataka to Collaborate with Social Media Influencers to Promote Government Schemes

The Government of Karnataka has introduced the Karnataka Digital Advertising Guidelines 2024 to enhance the usage of digital media in public communication. Under this, it will approach social media influencers to advertise government schemes and programmes.

The announcement was made by the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) on August 28. The guidelines by the DIPR made it compulsory for all government departments, corporations, authorities, boards, local governing bodies, town municipalities, city corporations, etc. to follow them.

Apart from defining roles, the guidelines also laid down eligibility criteria for digital entities. The digital entities must be at least one year old and should have a continuous record of publishing content for at least one year. They must also adhere to other unspecified guidelines for content and ethical standards.



Uttar Pradesh govt plans Rs 33.5K crore boost to IT and ITeS hubs

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to build global technology hubs with a $4 billion investment as it targets 10x growth in the Information Technology (IT) & IT-enabled Services (ITeS) sectors in the next five years.

The investments will be made in new-age technologies that are being adopted in various domains spanning industry, e-commerce, education, health, tourism, space, electronics, energy, etc.

The Yogi Adityanath government is drafting a strategy to woo global investors, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to partner with the state’s artificial intelligence and drone ecosystem.



RIL becomes India's first company to surpass Rs 10 lakh crore in annual revenue

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the first Indian company to surpass Rs 10 lakh crore in annual revenue. This significant milestone was announced by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani during the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Thursday.

During the AGM, Ambani revealed that Reliance achieved a record consolidated turnover of Rs 10,00,122 crore (USD 119.9 billion) for the financial year 2023-24.

For the same period, RIL reported an EBITDA of Rs 1,78,677 crore (USD 21.4 billion) and a net profit of Rs 79,020 crore (USD 9.5 billion).



Deals worth ?4.5 lakh cr signed at 'Rising Rajasthan' roadshow meeting

Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma said his government signed preliminary investment deals worth ₹4.5 lakh crore during a roadshow meeting with investors and industrialists in Mumbai on Friday. It was the first roadshow for the 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investors Summit 2024 to be held in Jaipur in December. In an interview to ET's Krishna Kumar, Sharma said his government is taking unique and offbeat steps to boost investments and create jobs in Rajasthan, unlike the previous Congress government that he claimed focused on freebies.