Daily GK Update : 29th August, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams

Aug 29 is Sports Day to mark Dhyan Chand's b'day

i. National Sports Day in India is celebrated on August 29 to mark hockey legend Dhyan Chand's birthday.

ii. Dhyan Chand, considered as the greatest player in hockey, played a key role in India's three consecutive Olympic triumphs in 1928, 1932 and 1936.

iii. Notably, the government gives away awards such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards on this day.

Four athletes get Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

i. Four athletes, including Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shooter Jitu Rai and Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik received the Rajiv Khel Ratna award from President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.

ii. Apart from a medal and a citation, a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee will receive a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh. The Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awardees will receive statuettes, certificates and cash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. Click here for more

Doha Bank opens branch in Kerala

i. Qatar's based Doha Bank has opened a branch, the Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the branch.

ii. Doha Bank is one of the largest commercial banks in the State of Qatar

GST bill unanimously passed in Maharashtra Assembly

i. The Maharashtra Assembly's has unanimously passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill.

ii. GST is a tax levied when a consumer buys a good or service. It is meant to be a single, comprehensive tax that will subsume all the other smaller indirect taxes on consumption like service tax, excise duty etc.

West Bengal passes resolution to rename the state

i. The West Bengal Assembly today passed the resolution to rename the state to 'Bangla' in Bengali, 'Bengal' in English and 'Bangal' in Hindi.
ii. Earlier last month, the Mamata Banerjee government had approved the change of name to either Bongo or Bangla.

Mehbooba Mufti launches UJALA scheme in Jammu and Kashmir

i. CM, Mehbooba Mufti has formally launched the Ujala Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir with the distribution of LED bulbs.

ii. The National LED programme was launched by the Prime Minister in January 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurates IIT in Dharwad

i. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar formally inaugurated the institute in Dharwad.

ii. The inauguration, which was planned last month end, had to be postponed due to the Kalasa Banduri agitation.

iii. The first batch of IIT-Dharwad began on August 1 with 120 students.

Nico Rosberg wins 2016 Belgian Grand Prix

i. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from Germany has won the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One.

ii. It was Rosberg’s overall tenth championship title of F1 in his career and the sixth win in the 2016 season.

ii. Earlier, he had won Australian Grand Prix, Bahrain Grand Prix, Chinese Grand Prix and Russian Grand Prix.

AM Naik names SN Subrahmanyan as next Larsen & Toubro chief

i. Indian multi-national conglomerate Larsen & Toubro’s group named S N Subrahmanyan as the Managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of India’s largest infrastructure engineering company from October first.

iiThe appointment of Subrahmanyan had then come with the then chief executive and managing director KV Venkataramanan retiring.

Amit Chandra inducted as non-executive director of Tata Sons

i. Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group of companies, has appointed private equity firm Bain Capital’s Managing Director Amit Chandra as non-executive director.

ii. The appointments, effective Friday, increases the total number of the company’s board members to nine.

Western Railway wins all India railway athletic championship

i. Western Railway won the overall team championship in the 82nd All India Railway athletic Championship held at Tiruchirapalli Tamil Nadu.

ii. Central railway stood 2nd and Southern Railway 3rd in the overall team category. Best athlete award in men’s category was given to Jasdeep Singh of Northern Railway and best women athlete award to Dutee Chand of Northern Railway.

Carborundum Universal inaugurates R&D centre at Hosur

i. Murugappa Group firm Carborundum Universal (CUMI) inaugurated its Research and Development centre at its industrial ceramics division in Hosur, Tamil Nadu (TN).

ii. The centre was inaugurated by M M Murugappan, Chairman of CUMI and Vice Chairman of Murugappa Group, along with others.

Amazon launches dedicated online Telugu book store