Uttarakhand
- Health department hires 70 former Army doctors
- To improve healthcare facilities, Uttarakhand health department has hired 70 ex-Army doctors.
- At present, out of the 2,400 sanctioned posts in the health department only 1,100 are occupied and majority of them have been filled by contractual doctors.
- Sources said that majority of Army doctors who have applied belong to non-clinical branch. So most of them would be posted in government medical colleges in the state. The existing doctors in these colleges are likely to be transferred to hospitals which require doctors.
- The ex-Army doctors were hired after Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Army chief General Bipin Rawat met in June.
INTERNATIONAL
- India and Germany signed agreement to improve grid integration of renewable energy
- India and Germany signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors(IGEN-GEC).
- The main aim of this programme is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energy.
- Around 60 years, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has been working jointly with partners in India for sustainable economic, ecological, and social development.
- Kenya Imposes World’s Toughest Law Against Plastic Bags
- The country Kenya imposed a law that selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000.
- It is the world’s toughest law which is aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.
- The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.
NATIONAL
- Union Government to launch Deep Ocean Mission
- The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is going to launch Deep Ocean Mission by January 2018 to spur research activities in ocean science.
- The proposed inter-ministerial and interdisciplinary project aims to explore and harness mineral resources beneath the ocean floor.
- India has 7,500 km of coastline and 2.4 million square km of exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The oceans along Indian peninsula contain enormous opportunities.
- Vice President Launches ‘National Sports Talent Search Portal’.
- The Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu launched the National Sports Talent Search Portal, a Government initiative to unearth sporting talent from every nook and corner of the country.
- Under the initiative, a child or his parents, teachers or coaches can upload his bio data or video on the portal.
- The Sports ministry will select talented players and impart training to them at Sports Authority India centres.
- The ministry also decided to introduce 1000 scholarships of Rs 5 lakh each for eight years.
- Nitasha Biswas Crowned First Miss TransQueen India
- Nitasha Biswas, a trans woman from Kolkata was crowned the first Miss TransQueen India.
- The competition was held in Gurugram, Haryana. Biswas is currently pursuing Masters in Business Management in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- On the other hand, Manipur’s Loiloi was crowned the first runner-up. Biswas will now go to Thailand for Miss International Queen, while Loiloi will compete at Miss Transsexual Australia.
- 29 August: National Sports Day
- National Sports day is celebrated on 29th august every year to mark the birthday of Dhyan Chand.
- On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind will give away the sports Awards. A total of 29 players have been selected to receive the honours from President.
- The President will confer Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
- The Khel Ratna Award is honoured for the players’ spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level. The Arjuna Awards are given to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports while the Dronacharya Award is sports coaching honour.
- Arun Jaitley delivered LRSAM to Indian Navy
- Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over the Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM) jointly developed by India and Israel, to the Indian Navy, at Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) here.
- LRSAM is an advanced combat suit for missile defence against air targets and missiles, and has full capabilities of air and surface surveillance, threat alert and fire control.
- Public sector BDL is the missile production agency for the three armed forces.