Rajras Current Affairs August 18
NEWS: India has its first Medal at Rio
- Wrestler Sakshi Malik defeated Kyrgyzstan wrestler Tynybekova in Repechage chance to win Bronze medal.
- Sakshi Malik created history by becoming the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal.
- Sakshi had lost 2-9 in the quarter-finals to Russia’s Valeriia Koblova in the fifth bout of the day before getting a second chance in repechage when her conqueror reached the final.
- Repechage: Every wrestler who’s been defeated by the two eventual finalists during the knockouts, participates in the repechage rounds – with two bronze medals, one for each finalist’s best rival – up for grabs.
NEWS: President Appoints new Governors
- President Pranab Mukherjee appointed former Union Minister Najma Heptulla (76) as Governor of Manipur.
- Banwarilal Purohit was appointed as Governor of Assam.
- VP Singh Badnore as Governor of Punjab.
- Jagdish Mukhi was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- Constitutional Provision related to appointment of Governor.
- Article 153: Says that there shall be governor for each state. 7th Constitutional amendment allowed same person as governor of two or more state.
- Article 156: Governor is appointed by President and hold office during the pleasure of President.
NEWS: Supreme Court rules on Dahi Handi Festival
- In a recent hearing, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to approach the Supreme Court for clarity on whether the High Court’s August 11 order was still valid.
- On August 11, 2014: Bombay High Court directed the State government to declare Dahi Handi a ‘dangerous performance’ under the Maharashtra Police Act and imposing other safety restrictions.
- Supreme Court gave an hearing to the issue and passed the order:
- Banning participants (Govindas) below 18 years of age.
- Restricting height of pyramids to 20 feet
NEWS: Scientist create Sunshine, seaweed help to break down dye waste
- Despite stringent environmental regulations, a comprehensive method of treating industrial dye is not available and as a result, annually, more than 500 tonnes of non-degradable textile colour wastes are being disposed of in natural streams without adequate treatment.
- Titanium dioxide had conventionally been used for photocatalytic degradation of industrial dyes, but it took long time to degrade dyes. So the researchers doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles with sulphur and carbon by treating it with carrageenan.
- The nano-composite was found to behave as an excellent photocatalyst that helped degrade industrial dyes quickly in a single-step process.
- This photocatlyst will help to completely degrade three industrial dyes — methyl orange, methylene blue and reactive black-5 — in the presence of sunlight.
Other NEWS:
- Union Government has allowed online authentication using Aadhar for new mobile connections.
- The first South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Youth Parliamentarians Conference on `Peace and Harmony for Development’ started in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- To ease tension in disputed South China Sea, China and 10 member countries of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to form a framework for a code of conduct.
- AR Rahman was honored with the Tamil Ratna Award by the New York based Tamil Sangam, after his concert at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) chamber to honor M.S. Subbulakshi, the doyen of Carnatic music.
