Current Affairs 28th August 2018: Daily GK Update

Dear Aspirants,

The General Awareness Section of Banking Exams covers numerous sections in it like Banking Awareness, Static GK, and Current Affairs. But the most important thing that you might have noticed is that both the Banking Awareness and Static Awareness questions asked in the General Awareness Section are based on Current Affairs only. The questions on Static and Banking Awareness are related to the countries, events or anything that has been in news for a while. Here is the Daily GK Update to get you acquainted with the top events that made the headlines today!!

Current Affairs 28th August 2018: Daily GK Update

National News

1. ISRO To Send 1st Indian Into Space By 2022

i. India’s first Indian human mission will be launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by 2022. This was stated by the Union Minister of State (I/C) Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh.

ii. The programme will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission. So far, only the USA, Russia and China have launched human spaceflight missions. PM Modi had earlier announced `Gaganyaan — India's maiden human spaceflight programme'.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

Dr K Sivan is Chairman of ISRO.
ISRO stands for Indian Space Research Organization.
Headquarters of ISRO- Bengaluru, Karnataka.

2. Centre Signs MoU With 6 States For Lakhwar Yamuna Basin Project

i. Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed an MoU with six states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna basin to deal with water crisis.

ii. Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Vasundhara Raje Scindia), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar) and Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) signed the MoU.

iii. Under the agreement, the 204-metres high project will be constructed near Uttarakhand's Lohari village with live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metres (MCM). The total project is worth Rs 3,966.51 crore.

3. MoU Signed For Skill Development Of Arogyamitras Under PMJAY

i. An MoU was signed between the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and National Health Agency (NHA), to provide capacity building for Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) to ensure effective rollout and continued quality implementation.
ii. The MoU was signed by Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, NHA and Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC. As per the MoU, NSDC will ensure quality training of Arogyamitra through its network of Skill Development Centres functioning under PMKVY and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK).

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

Dharmendra Pradhan is the Minister of Skill Development and entrepreneurship & Petroleum and Natural Gas.
J.P.Nadda is the present Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

International News

4. G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting Held in Argentina

i. The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was held in Salta, Argentina. It took place as part of Sherpa Track for 2018 G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is to be hosted by Argentina by end of 2018. The theme of the meeting was 'Building consensus for fair and sustainable development'.

ii. Its three key issues for the agenda were future of work, infrastructure for development, and sustainable food future.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

The G20 comprises of total 19 countries plus European Union (EU), representing 85% of global GDP, 80% of international trade, 65% of the world’s population.
In 2008, the first G20 Leaders’ Summit was held in Washington DC, US.

Banking/Economy/Business News

5. Tez Rebranded As Google Pay To Offer Instant Bank Loans

i. Alphabet Inc’s Google has partnered with four Indian banks to grant consumer loans online, as the fight for a $1 trillion digital finance market intensifies. The U.S. search giant has teamed with HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and Federal Bank Ltd. to offer instant, pre-approved loans to customers.

ii. California-based company re-branded its made-in-India Tez app as 'Google Pay' -- the catch-all label for its payments services. Google has claimed that it has 2.2 crore monthly active users on Google Pay.

6. DBS Named World's Best Bank In Nod To Its Digital Innovation

i. DBS Bank has been named the world's best bank by Global Finance magazine, in a reflection of its ability to invest in digital innovation while still maintaining stable operations for its customers.

ii. DBS is the first Asian bank to receive the accolade from the New York-based publication, which last year gave the title to ING Bank.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

Piyush Gupta is the chief executive officer of DBS.
It headquarters in Singapore.

7. PNB Gets Top Rank In Digital Transaction

i. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has announced that the Department of Financial Services report has rated it as number one state-owned bank in terms of digital transactions. The bank is also rated as the sixth overall amongst all banks in India for digital performance.

ii. The bank is rated as ‘Good’ by the government with a score of 71 which is the highest category of performance.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

Sunil Mehta is the CEO of Punjab National Bank.
It headquarters in New Delhi.

8. FDI In Country Rises 23% To About 13 billion dollars In 1st Quarter

i. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion data, Foreign Direct Investment, FDI in India rose 23% to 12.8 billion dollars during the April to June quarter of this fiscal. The foreign fund inflows in April-June 2017-18 stood at 10.4 billion dollars.

ii. Key sectors that received maximum foreign investment during the first quarter of the current fiscal include services 2.4 billion dollars, trading 1.62 billion dollars and telecommunications 1.59 billion dollars.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

Arun Jaitley is the present Finance Minister of India.
Singapore was the largest source of FDI during April to June quarter with 6.52 billion dollars.

Sports News

9. North Korea To Host Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships

i. The 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships will be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, a signal that the secretive country may be coming in from the sporting cold.

ii. At the Asian Games weightlifting in Jakarta, the Asian Weightlifting Federation and North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk signed an agreement for North Korea to hold the championships from October 27, 2019.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

North Korea Capital- Pyongyang, Currency- North Korean won, Supreme leader: Kim Jong-un.

Asian Games 2018

10. Asian Games 2018: Neeraj Chopra Wins India 1st Javelin Gold in Asiad History

i. Neeraj Chopra became the first-ever Indian javelin thrower to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. The 20-year-old junior world record holder hurled the javelin to a distance of 88.06m to bag the Asiad gold.

ii. Notably, Neeraj had also become the first Indian to bag gold in the javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018-

The Host cities for Asian Games 2018 are Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
Bhin Bhin, Kaka, and Atung are the mascots of the 2018 Asian Games.

11. Asian Games 2018: PV Sindhu Wins India's 1st Asian Games Silver In Badminton

i. World number three PV Sindhu lost to world number one Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) in the women's singles final to bag India's first-ever silver medal in badminton at Asian Games.

ii. Sindhu, playing in her fifth final of 2018, lost the match with a scoreline of 13-21, 16-21.